{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5723", "Beyer Statement On Ways And Means Victory In Trump v. Committee on Ways and Means", "2022-11-23", "2022", "2022-11", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Donald S. Beyer, Jr.", "B001292", "beyer.house.gov", "beyer", "https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, issued the following statement today after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Donald Trump\u2019s request to block the release of his tax returns to the Committee:\n\n\u201cThe courts have again affirmed the principle that Donald Trump is not above the law. Trump fought with every tool at his disposal to prevent the lawful disclosure to Congress of information he once promised to make public, but the law was clearly against him.\n\n\u201cFor over three years the Ways and Means Committee has pursued this avenue of legitimate oversight to inform important legislative action. That work remains before us. Given the long delays and the necessity those delays have created for congressional action on a short time timetable, the Treasury Department and the IRS must comply with court rulings and with the law and furnish the tax information requested by Chairman Neal with all possible haste.\u201d\n\n\u201cI commend Chairman Neal, Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Pascrell, and our other colleagues and staff for their dogged persistence in this important matter. Our legal and constitutional authorities were always clear, and though this moment was long delayed, I did not doubt we would win this case \u2013 but I am still very happy with the victory.\u201d\n\nThe Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means is empowered to request and receive individual tax information from the IRS by section 6103 of the U.S. tax code (subsection f, p. 3163). The law states [(f)(1)] that \u201cthe Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request,\u201d and further specifies [(f)(4)] that the Ways and Means Chair \u201cacting directly, or by or through such examiners or agents as the chairman of such committee\u2026 may designate or appoint, to inspect returns and return information at such time and in such manner as may be determined by such chairman.\u201d\n\nWays and Means Chairman Richard Neal initially requested the individual tax returns of Donald Trump for the years 2013-2018, along with tax returns filed by other Trump LLC\u2019s, trusts, and corporate entities for the same years, on April 3, 2019.\n\nCongress created the section 6103 authority a century ago in response to the Teapot Dome bribery scandal, which led to the investigation and ultimate imprisonment of a member of the presidential cabinet. The authority was used during Watergate as the basis for \u201cvarious requests to the IRS for confidential taxpayer information of President Nixon and others\u201d in 1973 and 1974.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:24:37Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5723"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6704849656671286, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}