Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007

PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY DONATION REFORM ACT OF 2007

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Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as I walked into the Capitol today, it was sunny outside, and one of the benefits of coming from Connecticut about 100 or so miles south a few days a week is, you might get a few sunnier days this time of year. And it is important, I think, on this day that there is some sunlight outside because beginning with the bill before us today, and following with pieces of legislation to come, we are going to start once again to open up this government to the people of this country. There is a sense, I think, over time that too much in Washington, D.C., gets done in back rooms and not enough gets done in the open daylight.

Today, we begin to open, again, this government to the people of this country.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 1254, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007, and I am grateful to do so through the benefit of work done before by Chairman Waxman, Congressman Emanuel, by Mr. Clay, and on the other side of the aisle, in particular, Mr. Platts and Mr. Duncan.

The legislation that they have worked on that is before us today is part of a larger effort by Congress to restore that honesty and accountability in the Federal Government. Simply put, this legislation would shine sunlight on donations to Presidential libraries.

Mr. Speaker, the Presidential library system was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt had an idea to create a repository to house his Presidential papers for the benefit of future generations of Americans; you could call it yet another successful New Deal program.

His idea was to raise private funds for the construction of a library facility, and then he turned the facility and his papers over to the Federal Government for operation by the National Archives. This model is still followed to this day.

But, like many things, Presidential libraries keep getting more expensive. They have become libraries in concept much more than in practice. They often include various facilities in addition to a repository, such as museums, conference centers, or classrooms.

The George H.W. Bush Library was reported to cost more than $80 million to build. The Clinton library and museum cost about $165 million to build. News reports have indicated that the fund-raising goal for President Bush's library and think tank in Texas is $500 million. One can only imagine how much his successor will have to raise.

The problem is that as these libraries continue to grow in size and scope, Presidential foundations need to raise more money to build them, and many of these organizations do so by selling access to the President while he is still in office while his power and celebrity are the strongest.

Under current law, there is no requirement to disclose the names of the donors and the amounts that they have donated, and there is no limit on the amount that can be donated. You don't need to be a political scientist to see the potential for abuse.

Today's bill simply requires that fund-raising organizations disclose information about their donors to Congress and the National Archives during the period of that most intense fund-raising, while the President is in office, and during the first 4 years after the end of his term.

The legislation before us, H.R. 1254, would require that all organizations established for the purpose of raising funds for Presidential libraries, or their related facilities, report on a quarterly basis all contributions of $200 or more.

Under the bill, Presidential library fund-raising organizations would be required to disclose to Congress and the Archivist the amount and date of each contribution, the name of the contributor, and if the contributor is an individual, the occupation of the contributor. The National Archives would be required to disclose this information through a free, searchable, and downloadable database.

Mr. Speaker, this is a nonpartisan problem, and what we have before us today is a nonpartisan solution. This bill does not seek to limit the amount a donor can contribute or the amount a foundation can solicit. It simply seeks to shed sunlight on the process.

Many of us came to Congress to bring government out of the back rooms and back into the open air. This bill, I believe, is an important step in that transformation; and I am honored to be able to stand on the work of colleagues who have worked on this issue over the years and to be able to present it to this body today.

Mr. Speaker, similar legislation has enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in the House in the past, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself so much time as I may consume.

I want to thank both sides of the aisle, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Waxman and Mr. Clay, who have done such great work on this issue. They have constructed a bill which will allow the development of these facilities to move forward in an expeditious manner, but done so in a way that gives people faith in that process.

So much of our ability to build and rebuild faith in this government is connected to whether or not people believe that things we do here are done in the open light of day. Today is going to be a very good day to restore part of people's faith in this government, and this bill is an important first step.

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