Today, U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), the Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, blasted House Republicans after GOP members of the Ways and Means Committee unanimously voted to block a measure Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-35) and Pascrell offered that would finally expose Donald Trump’s tax returns to sunlight.

“It shouldn’t be difficult in a democracy for people to discover if their leader is a crook. But it is clear Republicans have no interest in finding out so long as the leader is a Republican. The corruption in this administration is bottomless. But today, Republicans voted to aid and abet it one more time. I have been trying to expose the Trump tax returns to the light of day almost since the day Trump took office. The American people have waited long enough for answers. They should not be made to wait any longer. Congress must dissipate this black cloud. But this feckless Republican Congress will never get us the answers we deserve as long as they put electoral considerations over all else, even the health our democracy.”

Rep. Pascrell has been Congress’s most vocal proponent of releasing President Trump’s tax returns in order to reveal any potential conflicts of interest. Since February 2017, Pascrell has led the call for the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means to invoke Section 6103 of the tax code to obtain Trump’s tax returns. Pascrell believes that exposing the tax returns to sunlight is critical to revealing any potential conflicts of interest, including those with Russian entities. With today’s proceedings, Republicans have voted 18 times to block Democratic resolutions seeking the tax returns.

Watch Rep. Pascrell push for his measure to release the tax returns here.