[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 410 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 410
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President
Trump must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause, by submitting all
plans for his jumbo jet gift from Qatar immediately to Congress.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 14, 2025
Mr. Raskin (for himself, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Cohen, Mr.
Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Correa,
Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Neguse, Mrs. McBath, Ms. Ross, Ms. Balint, Mr. Garcia
of Illinois, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Goldman of New York,
and Ms. Crockett) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President
Trump must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause, by submitting all
plans for his jumbo jet gift from Qatar immediately to Congress.
Whereas article I, section 9, clause 8 of the United States Constitution (known
as the ``Foreign Emoluments Clause'') provides that ``[N]o Person
holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall,
without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument,
Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or
foreign State'';
Whereas the framers of the Constitution were determined to presumptively ban the
collection of emoluments from foreign governments ``of any kind
whatever'' by our political leaders to guarantee their undivided
fiduciary loyalty to the American people and to prevent them from being
corrupted in their official decisionmaking by the wealth and plunder of
foreign states and monarchs;
Whereas the Constitution's sole exception to this presumptive ban on accepting
emoluments from foreign governments is in cases where Congress considers
and affirmatively consents to the acceptance of such a gift;
Whereas George Washington, in his 1796 farewell address to the Nation, warned
that ``Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence...the jealousy
of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and
experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes
of republican government.'';
Whereas, in 1830, President Andrew Jackson wrote a letter to Congress
petitioning for the privilege of keeping a gold medal presented to him
by then-Colombian President Simon Bolivar, but was forced to deposit the
medal with the Department of State after Congress rejected his request;
Whereas, in 1840, President Martin Van Buren, who was offered 2 horses, a case
of rose oil, 5 bottles of rose water, a package of cashmere shawls, a
Persian rug, a box of pearls, and a sword by the Imam of Muscat, sought
Congressional guidance and carefully abided by the directive of Congress
to deposit the gifts with the Department of State and the Department of
the Treasury;
Whereas, in 1844, President John Tyler obeyed the directive of Congress to sell
2 horses presented to the United States by the Imam of Muscat and
deposit the proceeds with the Department of the Treasury;
Whereas, in 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln
presented to Congress 2 decorative elephant tusks, a sword, and a
photograph from the King of Siam, requesting permission to accept these
exotic gifts, but deposited them with the Department of the Interior
when Congress rejected his request;
Whereas, in 1877, President Ulysses S. Grant sought and received permission from
Congress pursuant to a joint resolution to accept the Statue of Liberty
on behalf of the United States as a gift from the government of France;
Whereas, in 1896, Congress passed a joint resolution explicitly authorizing
President Benjamin Harrison to accept medals presented to him by the
governments of Brazil and Spain;
Whereas President John F. Kennedy declined to accept honorary Irish citizenship
in 1963, in order to avoid violating even the spirit of the Foreign
Emoluments Clause;
Whereas President Donald Trump, through the Department of Defense, intends to
accept a Boeing 747-8 aircraft that has been described as a ``flying
palace'' with an estimated value of at least $400,000,000 for temporary
use as a Presidential transport aircraft during his term in office from
the royal family of Qatar;
Whereas ownership of this ``flying palace'' will reportedly transfer to
President Trump's personal Presidential library foundation no later than
January 1, 2029;
Whereas President Trump stated at a news conference on May 12, 2025, when asked
about this reported offer by the royal family of Qatar to donate the
aircraft, ``I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer...I
could be a stupid person and say, `no, we don't want a free, very
expensive airplane''';
Whereas acceptance of the Qatari aircraft without the permission of Congress
would clearly violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause, while also posing
significant national security dangers, including, not only in terms of
the corruption and illegitimate influence that the framers anticipated,
but also in terms of substantial additional risks of espionage against
and surveillance of the President and other senior United States
Government officials; and
Whereas President Trump remarked that this unprecedented and extravagant gift
from a foreign state would result in ``big savings [that] will be spent,
instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'', but, in fact, it would not
replace the existing contract for retrofitting and modernizing Air Force
One, and would instead require hundreds of millions or billions of
dollars in new Federal Government and taxpayer investment to retrofit
and debug this gift from an autocratic foreign state: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
President Trump must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause by--
(1) submitting all plans for this gift immediately to
Congress; and
(2) if he wishes to accept the ``flying palace'' from the
royal family of Qatar as he says publicly he would like to do,
obtaining the consent of Congress before doing so, as have all
of his predecessors in the Presidency in comparable
circumstances.
<all>