Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM)

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL5)

President Trump appears to have reversed an Obama-era policy publicly disclosing names and dates of White House visitors there to see the president or other top officials in the administration. New legislation in Congress would require public disclosure of visitor logs to the White House and his private Florida club Mar-a-Lago.

The context

Obama’s was the first administration to implement such a rule, releasing most names except those deemed “politically sensitive” within 90 to 120 days, a point not not yet reached in the Trump Administration. Trump hasn’t formally announced a discontinuation of Obama’s policy on visitor log disclosures. However, the White House did not answer when Mother Jones asked if the policy would continued, and Trump has not publicly released other information such as his tax returns, indicating a penchant for secrecy at times.

Trump has also become notorious for frequently flying to his palatial private Florida club Mar-a-Lago on the weekends, which he’s owned since 1985. As president, he’s conducted so much official business that it’s been nicknamed “the second White House. Mar-a-Lago events have included from everything from hosting a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to golfing with New England Patriots owner (and vocal Trump supporter) Robert Kraft.

What the bill does

Obama’s policy was created from the inside and not congressionally mandated, but this legislation would create a congressional requirement for visitor log release, for Trump and all subsequent administrations. Labeled S. 721 in the Senate and H.R. 1711 in the House, the legislation is named the Make Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act, with the acronym MAR-A-LAGO Act.

It would cover any location in which a President regularly conducts business, which in this case would include the White House, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump Tower in New York City, and Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey.

What supporters say

Supporters argue the legislation promotes transparency and will help prevent influence-peddling or other similar accusations — justified or not — that have accompanied Trump’s frequent use of Mar-a-Lago as president, especially after membership costs to the private club increased dramatically following the election.

“The initiation fees at Mar-A-Lago — where people are getting uncommon access to the president and his top advisers — have just doubled to $200,000. By refusing to release the White House visitor logs, President Trump is only validating the rampant concerns about who may be pulling the levers in his administration,” Senate lead sponsor Udall said in a press release.

“The president should end his administration’s disturbing pattern of stonewalling information and immediately reinstate the previous administration’s policy of publishing White House visitor logs,” Udall continued. “And given President Trump’s unprecedented decision to regularly conduct official business at his private business properties, the Trump administration has an obligation to make public the visitor lists at places like Mar-A-Lago and Trump Tower.”

What opponents say

Trump supporters counter that the Democrats’ accusations regarding visitors are much ado about nothing.

“The president’s very clear that he works seven days a week. This is where he goes to see his family,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said. “He brings people down there. This is part of being president.” And why haven’t the guest lists been made public? “It’s the same reason that he can have dinner or lunch with somebody,” Spicer answered. “The president’s entitled to a bit of privacy at some point.”

Odds of passage

The bill has attracted 15 House cosponsors and two Senate cosponsors, all Democrats. The legislation awaits a vote in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plus Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.