WASHINGTON _ When the Senate returns after Labor Day, Senate Democrats plan to push legislation to force presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns.
They are making no secret that the impetus for their action is Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who unveiled the proposal in May, told reporters that he would be taking the floor and calling for the measure to be passed when the legislative session resumes.
"The reality is for 40 years, there has been a good government, transparency-in-politics standard," Wyden said. "The bottom line is you just don't get to hide your tax return from public view when you're running for president of the United States."
Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., who joined Wyden on a Thursday call, said lawmakers would have written the requirement into law at an earlier point if they had any reason to think a major party nominee would decline to disclose returns.
"I wish we weren't in this position," Murphy said, adding that he and Wyden would have to take it to their Senate colleagues "now late in the election season."
The renewed effort comes the same day that the presidential campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton launched a new television ad blasting Trump's not releasing his tax returns. A campaign aide said it would be put into circulation as part of an existing ad buy.
Wyden and Murphy weren't prepared to detail what they might do beyond asking for unanimous consent to get a vote.
The bill would direct the Federal Election Commission to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service tax returns that are not turned over voluntarily. Trump has argued that it would be ill-advised to release returns while the subject of an IRS audit.
Wyden noted that the Finance Committee seeks three years of tax returns as a matter of routine for Senate confirmation for executive branch nominees under their jurisdiction.
"We're going to do everything we can to bring this bill up immediately," Wyden said. "The election gets closer every day, so the American people shouldn't have to wait any longer."
"Donald Trump is running for president at least in part to try and make himself more money," Murphy said. "If Donald Trump had nothing to hide in his taxes, we would have seen them by now."
Murphy also argued the matter was particularly urgent given Trump's connections and apparent business dealings with Russia, since authority already exists within the executive branch to loosen sanctions against the country.
"Congress has given the president the ability to impose sanctions and to lift sanctions," Murphy said.
