Bill would create Cabinet-level Department of Reconciliation tasked to “end racism,” with budget at least 10% of Defense Department
Opponents would rather “shut the DoR.”
Context
The last new Cabinet-level department created was Homeland Security in 2002, formed in the aftermath of 2001’s terrorist attacks. Rep. Al Green and his co-sponsors believe that issues relating to race in America — in areas including policing, wealth disparities, and ballot access — demand a similar 9/11-level “reckoning” moment that calls for another new Cabinet department.
Last year, GovTrack Insider covered a proposal to create a Department of Peacebuilding, primarily intended to limit or prevent overseas wars. Now, new congressional legislation would create a Department of Reconciliation, a somewhat similar Cabinet-level department focused more domestically than internationally, tasked with attempting to “eliminate racism” in the U.S.
What the legislation does
The department would be headed by a Secretary of Reconciliation, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
By law, the department’s budget would have to be at least 10 percent that of the Defense Department. The Pentagon’s budget is currently $768.2 billion, meaning the Department of Reconciliation would have to be at least $76.8 billion. For context, that’s larger than several current Cabinet departments, including Education ($73.5 billion) and Justice ($32.4 billion).
It was introduced in the House on February 9 as H.Res. 919, by Rep. Al Green (D-TX9).
What supporters say
Supporters argue that a new department is an attempted solution large and comprehensive enough to tackle the magnitude of the problem.
“I’ve lived long enough to see invidious discrimination in many of its evil forms. I know what it looks like, I know what it sounds like… and I know what it feels like. I’ve been called names that I don’t repeat. I’ve seen it rip families apart and create profound schisms,” Rep. Green said in a press release. “Invidious discrimination has no place in our society, yet we will never see its demise as long as we fail to rectify the injustices that have been proliferating within our nation over the course of centuries.”
“A Department of Reconciliation with the necessary resources and budget to heal the wounds of our nation is long overdue,” Rep. Green continued. “As people of goodwill, we should not commit appalling acts of hatred to continue. At the end of the day, we must always remember that those who tolerate hate perpetuate hate.”
What opponents say
Opponents counter that far from helping to end racism, such a new department — even if well-intentioned — would actually be counterproductive to its purported goals.
“I find it ironic that many of the Democrats who have signed onto [the Department of Reconciliation proposal] are a part of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is itself a caucus that many Americans would consider racist because it segregates black legislators from white legislators,” conservative black commentator Carol M. Swain says. “I cannot think of anything that would be more divisive to our country than to set up a Cabinet-level ‘department of reconciliation’ that’s based on racist principles.”
(Swain’s greatest prominence in recent years came when she served as Vice Chair of former President Donald Trump’s 1776 Commission, which in part advocated for more “patriotic” education with less discussion of racial inequities and histories in public schools.)
Odds of passage
Rep. Green introduced a prior version in early June 2020, during the peak week of protests over racial inequities and police misconduct in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. It attracted 33 Democratic cosponsors, but never received a committee vote despite Democrats controlling the chamber.
The current proposal has attracted an identical 33 cosponsors, all Democrats. It awaits a potential vote in the House Judiciary Committee.
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This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
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