The House voted to table a privileged resolution calling for the release of President Donald Trump’s tax returns for review or a committee assignment for a resolution vote Monday.
The measure was defeated largely along party lines with 229 Republicans voting against the measure while 185 Democrats voted against it.
The resolution, introduced by New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell, comes after Democrats called for the documents to investigate whether the president has any links to a Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Pascrell said the information is critical to see Trump has any “financial ties to the Russian Federation and Russian citizens, including debts owed and whether he shares any partnership interests, equity interests, joint ventures or licensing agreements with Russia or Russians.”
He sent a letter urging House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady to invoke a rarely used provision of a law allowing for the committee to request any individual’s tax return from the Department of the Treasury.
Brady argued by requesting the documents, he would be misusing what the law was intended to do.
“My belief is that if Congress begins to use its powers to rummage around in the tax returns of the president, what prevents Congress from doing the same for average Americans,” he told reporters earlier this month. “Privacy and civil liberties are still important rights in this country and ways and means committee is not going to start to weaken them.”
Follow Juliegrace Brufke on Twitter
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.