It’s encouraging to know that the Democrats are planning ahead, mapping out their agenda under their new majority in the House of Representatives. So what will be the focus of their very first bill? Will they address the bottleneck at the southern border by attempting to draft an immigration reform bill? Will they deal with the growing threat to the nation posed by China?
Nope. Those trivial matters can wait. As noted by Fox News, House Resolution 1 (H.R. 1) will take aim at President Trump’ tax returns:
The measure would mandate presidents to disclose their tax returns as part of a package that Democrats say would improve government and transparency of elected officials.
As J.E. Dyer wrote back in September, the plan it to dust off a 1924 law that allows the chairmen of tax policy committees to privately examine the tax returns of anyone who files one in the United States, even without that filer’s permission.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The perverse hope that underlies this scheme is that the reveal of Trump’s tax returns would provide grist for a slew of new investigations into what Democrats are sure are nefarious actions that could lead to an indictment.
Naturally, as with every action the Democrats take out of pure spite, this move, were it to become law, would inevitably come back to bite them at some point in the future.
Fortunately for them, they’ll never have to find out specifically they have shot themselves in the foot. Again, via Fox:
[T]he legislation is largely symbolic, as it has little chance of actually becoming a law. The Republican-held Senate, which increased its majority after the midterm elections, is unlikely to vote for the bill. Trump himself could also refuse to sign it.
