WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Jason Smith (Mo.) issued the following statement after House Democrats publicly released the private tax information of President Trump:
“House Democrats are ending 2022 and their majority in the House by releasing President Trump’s private tax returns for no reason other than pure political spite. As the oldest committee in Congress, the House Ways and Means Committee, for well over two centuries, has held itself to the highest standard of conduct. Today’s unprecedented action will forever change the nature of how the Ways and Means Committee and the Congress conducts its oversight activities.
“It is clear that Washington Democrats’ obsession with President Trump drove their party and the Ways and Means Committee under their majority to a new low. Come January, Democrats will only have themselves to blame for this new precedent, as they have now given the incoming Republican majority the clear authority to use tools at the committee’s disposal to investigate whether President Biden and his family have enriched themselves off the Washington Democrats’ agenda.
“While Democrats will attempt to paint this as a political victory, it is a loss for the American people. In the waning days of their majority, Democrats have chosen to focus their time and attention on attacking a political rival instead of confronting the real problems facing the American people, including the worst inflation crisis in forty years, a national security and humanitarian crisis at our southern border that is delivering a flood of deadly fentanyl into American communities, an energy crisis that has made this year’s holiday travel that much more expensive, or the looming debt crisis that hangs over America’s economy. Under the incoming Republican majority, the House of Representatives will combat the reckless spending and out of touch policies that have sent consumer prices through the roof and left America’s communities struggling to get by, and we will restore the practice of Congressional oversight that has been completely absent under one-party Democrat rule to get the answers the American people deserve.”
Congressman Jason Smith represents Missouri’s Eighth Congressional District which includes West Plains, Rolla, Farmington, Cape Girardeau, and Poplar Bluff. As a member of the House of Representatives, Congressman Smith serves as the Republican Leader on the House Budget Committee and on the House Committee on Ways and Means.