IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 325 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President 

should retain a protective pool of reporters for purposes of covering 

the official business of the President, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 16, 2017 

Mr. RASKIN (for himself and Ms. JAYAPAL) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 

Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the President should retain a protective pool of reporters 

for purposes of covering the official business of the President, and for other purposes. 

Whereas the President of the United States is elected by the 

American people to serve as the head of our Government 

and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces; 

Whereas the President’s movements and actions are of special interest to the American people and broadly available 

knowledge of those movements and actions serves the 

public interest; 

Whereas the First Amendment of the Constitution protects 

the freedom of the press; 


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•HRES 325 IH 

Whereas members of the press serve the public interest by reporting on the movements and activities of the President 

each day; 

Whereas the protective press pool began during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower under the direction of Press Secretary James Hagerty to allow reporters 

to bring more steady press coverage to the President’s 

actions; 

Whereas the protective press pool has played a critical role 

in reporting on events of national significance and events 

affecting the President, and the press pool has provided 

important and emergency communication with the American public; 

Whereas the protective press pool provided critical information to the American public during and after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963; 

Whereas the protective press pool was able to report on the 

attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 

1981; 

Whereas the protective press pool played a critical role on 9/ 

11 in reporting on the movements and safety of the 

President, the continuity of Government and the unfolding details of the attack and response; 

Whereas the protective press pool traditionally travels across 

the world with the President to allow Americans to stay 

informed, reports on behalf of a broad array of reporters 

in the press corps, and ensures that Americans do not 

miss unexpected major developments; 

Whereas President Donald Trump has repeatedly vilified and 

undermined the free and independent American press 

during various stages of his campaign and Presidency; 


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•HRES 325 IH 

Whereas President Donald Trump refers to media reporting 

as ‘‘fake news’’ and attempts to undermine reporting on 

the activities of the White House; 

Whereas President Trump has repeatedly avoided the protective press pool in a way that departs from presidential 

history and best practices; 

Whereas, on May 12, 2017, President Trump categorically 

barred members of the American press corps from an 

Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister 

Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United 

States Sergey Kislyak, while allowing members of Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass to attend and photograph the meeting; 

Whereas, on May 12, 2017, in responding to news reports 

about the controversy surrounding his firing of FBI Director James Comey, President Trump tweeted about 

‘‘cancel[ing] all future press briefings and hand[ing] out 

written responses . . .’’; and 

Whereas it is necessary for the House of Representatives to 

reassert the primacy of the First Amendment and the necessity of a free and independent press to inform the 

public: Now, therefore be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the President should— 

3 (1) allow the establishment of a protective press 

4 pool and allow reporting on the activities of the 

5 Presidency not later than 30 days after the Presi6 dent assumes office; 


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•HRES 325 IH 

1 (2) grant the protective press pool access to the 

2 President, appropriate and timely notification of and 

3 access to the President’s official activities, access to 

4 information related to motorcade movements, sched5 ules of official actions; 

6 (3) provide the protective press pool with access 

7 to sufficient information to ensure that the Amer8 ican people are informed accurately and in a timely 

9 way on the President’s whereabouts in the event of 

10 domestic or foreign emergencies and to ensure that 

11 the public has broad and honest information about 

12 issues of public concern; and 

13 (4) preserve the independence of press coverage 

14 of matters relating to the President. 

Æ 


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