Do you smell that? It's not teen spirit. It's liberal desperation!
New York Senate passed a bill on Wednesday, with a 39-21 vote, that will allow Congress to request President Trump's state tax returns.
Personally, I think it will be hilarious when the returns are handed over and, once again, Democrats are left empty handed. When will they ever learn?
Governor Andrew Cuomo still has to sign the bill into law, but he has already made clear that he plans to do so.
The state Senate also passed a bill, in a 39-22 vote, that would allow New York to prosecute people who received presidential pardons if certain conditions are met.
The tax-returns legislation authorizes the New York commissioner of taxation and finance to provide state returns requested by the chairmen of Congress’s tax committees, so long as the requests have a legitimate legislative purpose and as long as Congress is also requesting related federal tax returns from the U.S. Treasury Department.
The bill comes as House Democrats and the Trump administration are fighting over a request for Trump’s federal tax returns.
Openly gay New York Senator Brad Hoylman tweeted shortly before the vote, “New York, as the home of the President’s state returns, has a special role and responsibility to step into the breach. Washington has failed to act. We intend to lead.”
New York, as the home of the President’s state returns, has a special role and responsibility to step into the breach.
Washington has failed to act. We intend to lead.
— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) May 8, 2019
"We are facing a constitutional showdown. New York, as he home of the President's state taxes, has a special responsibility to step into the breach," he tweeted later, after the bill passed the Senate.
#BREAKING: The New York State Senate just passed my bill to provide state tax information to requesting Congressional committees.
We are facing a constitutional showdown. New York, as the home of the President’s state taxes, has a special responsibility to step into the breach.
— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) May 8, 2019
Republicans fought the bill and then criticized it because, in large, it is an invasion of privacy. They also noted that with that law in place, Congress could then request anyone's tax returns, not just the president's.
epublicans in the state Senate criticized the bill, arguing that it would amount to an invasion of taxpayers’ privacy. They criticized the fact that under the legislation, Congress could request anyone’s state tax returns, not just Trump’s.
Republican Senator Andrew Lanza said, “This is wrong. I don’t want members of Congress deciding when they can attack citizens of New York.”
So, once again, Democrats have given the government more power, when we should be working on making it smaller.
