Rep. Dave Min And Sen. Schiff Introduce Bill to Increase Financial Disclosure Transparency of Trump White House, Government Officials
Washington, D.C. - Today, Representative Dave Min (D-CA-47) and U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the Financial Disclosure Modernization Act to increase transparency around government officials’ financial disclosures. This commonsense bill would update and expand the monetary values that elected and senior government officials are required to disclose in order to provide the American people with a better understanding of the financial holdings and interests of their leaders.
“The American people deserve to know who their leaders are working for. When disclosure laws are so outdated that they can’t even capture the scale of wealth held by senior officials, transparency becomes a fiction. Our Financial Disclosure Modernization Act is a simple, commonsense reform to strengthen public trust and make clear that no one, no matter how powerful or wealthy, is above accountability,” said Representative Min.
“Elected officials should be serving the public interest, not their own personal financial interest, and greater transparency is needed for both members of congress and the president and vice president. I’m proud to partner with Congressman Min to introduce this important improvement to financial disclosures that will increase transparency and accountability behind the financial holdings of government officials. The American people deserve no less,” said Senator Schiff.
Under the Ethics in Government Act, senior government officials are required to disclose their financial holdings and income using reporting value categories established in statute. However, the law is outdated. Currently, the highest value categories in disclosure forms for income is capped at “greater than $5 million,” while the highest value category for other reportable holdings – including interests, liabilities, transactions, and qualified blind trusts – is limited to “greater than $50 million.” President Trump, senior administration officials, and other individuals subject to disclosure requirements hold assets that far exceed the statute’s existing reporting thresholds.
This legislation would expand all reporting value categories to a new upper tier of “greater than $1 billion” to capture more precise and transparent disclosures by officials with substantial assets.
The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). In the U.S. House of Representatives, this bill is cosponsored by Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.-03), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.-20), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).
This legislation is endorsed by Democracy Defenders Action, Public Citizen, CREW, POGO, American Oversight, Common Cause, People for the American Way (PFAW), and Take On Wall Street.
"Financial disclosure requirements for senior government officials are critical for the public to understand whether officials are acting in the public’s best interest, or in their own financial interests,” said Debra Perlin, Vice President for Policy at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). “But as President Trump continues to appoint ultra-wealthy allies to key government positions, it has become increasingly clear that meaningful transparency can only be achieved by updating existing disclosure requirements to account for the staggering wealth that senior officials may possess. We thank Senator Schiff for introducing this commonsense legislation and urge Congress to pass it swiftly.”
"The Ethics in Government Act was meant to give the public a clear view of public officials’ assets, income, and financial interests,” said Virginia Canter, chief counsel and director for ethics and anticorruption at Democracy Defenders Action. “But as written, it lets the ultra-wealthy report only broad ranges for high-value transactions, assets, and income, which reveals less than what everyone else must normally disclose. Senator Schiff’s Financial Disclosure Modernization Act would stop this. It would give Americans a transparent picture of how much money the richest officials are receiving from outside sources. We appreciate Senator Schiff’s leadership and urge Congress to pass the bill quickly."
"The public cannot guard against illegal enrichment if they don't even know how much their politicians are earning while in office,” said Abigail Bellows, Common Cause’s Senior Policy Director for Anti-Corruption and Accountability. “In an administration packed with multimillionaires and billionaires, our current financial disclosure requirements just aren’t robust enough to shed light on the vast wealth of those in power. The Financial Disclosure Modernization Act would strengthen these requirements, improving transparency and public accountability.”
"The once-excellent personal financial disclosure requirement for public officials under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is beginning to show its age. The law mandated that officials disclose their income and assets in large categories, with the highest being "greater than $5 million" for income and "greater than $50 million" for assets. The problem is that more and more mega-millionaires and billionaires are now involved in public life with income and assets far above those ceilings. The Financial Disclosure Modernization Act raises those ceilings up to $1 billion to more accurately capture the real wealth of many public officials today,” said Craig Holman, Ph.D., Public Citizen.
"Sunlight is essential to government that serves the people, not just the powerful. This bill provides a much-needed update to current financial disclosure requirements. It helps us meet the moment in this time of government by the billionaires for the billionaires,” said Svante Myrick, President, People For the American Way.
Full text of the bill available here.
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