Should Federal Agencies Report Expenditures at Trump Properties? (H.R. 5182)

What is H.R. 5182?

(Updated April 18, 2021)

This bill — the CORRUPT Act — would require federal agencies to report to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) about any expenses or regulatory actions which had a beneficial impact on any property owned by the Trump Organization or entities associated with the president’s family or employees of the organization. It would also include indirect expenditures with vendors conducting more than $1 million in business with the owners of a covered property or covered individuals in the prior fiscal year. Those reports would have to be provided to OGE within 90 days, which would then have to prepare a report of its own compiling all the fiscal year 2017 information into a report within 30 days.

The bill’s full title is the Curb Objectionable Redirection of Resources and Unconstitutional Payments to Trump Act.

Argument in favor

The public needs to know the extent to which federal agencies are taking actions that benefit the Trump Organization or associated people and entities.

Argument opposed

This bill a partisan political gesture that waste the resources of federal agencies by making them report expenses at Trump facilities and indirect expenditures.

Impact

Federal agencies; Congress; and the OGE.

Cost of H.R. 5182

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced this bill to require a comprehensive accounting of the extent to which the Trump family has benefitted from the administration’s actions:

“The American people are fed up with the endemic, unapologetic corruption in the Trump administration. We have no idea how much money has gone from the federal treasury directly into Donald Trump’s pockets. We have introduced the CORRUPT Act because Congress and the American people deserve a full and ongoing accounting of how Trump is profiting from the Presidency.”

This legislation has the support of six cosponsors, all of whom are Democrats.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) Press Release