Duncan Scores Early Victory in 111th Congress

Washington, DC -- One of the first two bills passed by the 111th Congress was a measure originally introduced by Representative John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) requiring disclosure of contributions to presidential library fundraising organizations.

The Presidential Library Donation Act, H.R. 36, overwhelmingly passed the House today by a vote of 388-31.

Presidential Library fundraising organizations are formed while a president is still in office to begin collecting donations.  Contributions are accepted from individuals, corporations and foreign governments, with no limit on the amount they can contribute.  Since these organizations can collect unlimited funds for a sitting president, there is the possibility for abuse. 

Congressman Duncan originally introduced the bill in 1999 after learning that an organization raising funds for President Clinton’s library had received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Middle Eastern countries while President Clinton was still in office.  He sought to bring sunlight to this secretive process.  The House overwhelmingly passed the bill twice, in 2002 and 2007, but the Senate did not act on the bill either time.

“I first introduced this bill under a Democratic President and reintroduced it under a Republican President.  This is not a partisan issue.  The potential for abuse by these organizations is huge.”

During today’s consideration, Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) called the bill “a giant step in the right direction.”

While he was in office, President Clinton’s library organization received a $450,000 contribution from the ex-wife of Marc Rich, who fled the country after he was convicted of evading $40 million in taxes.  Rich was later granted a Presidential pardon on Clinton’s last day in office.  Speculation later surfaced about whether the donations had anything to do with the pardon. 

“H.R. 36 is a good government bill that will bring openness and transparency to the Presidential Library fundraising process.  It does not limit the size of the donations; it simply requires that they be disclosed.”
 
The Presidential Library system began when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt donated his presidential papers to the federal government.  Since that time, presidents have donated their papers to the National Archives at the end of their term to later be placed in their Presidential Library. 

Over the last few years, the price tag to build these libraries has increased dramatically, thus there has been an increase in the size of the contributions.  The current cost for the George W. Bush Presidential Library has been estimated at nearly $500 million.