Legislation introduced by the 2020 candidates this year: Oversight and Immigration
For our second look at the 116th Congress and the recent legislative activity of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates currently serving in Congress, we’ll outline bills introduced on the key legislative issues of oversight and immigration to get a better sense of their policies. (You can find our previous installment of this series on health and justice here.)
Oversight
One of Congress’ primary responsibilities is to conduct oversight of various government and non-government institutions. We wrote about some unusual congressional oversight activity of the executive branch last month, when the House began issuing subpoenas for documents relating to various investigations. But congressional oversight also often happens through the regular process of legislating. For the 2020 Democrats, introducing legislation has become a means of expressing their disapproval of the status quo.
Consider election security and voter registration, which has become a major Democratic issue in the wake of controversies over voter suppression, gerrymandering, and foreign interference. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the Voter Empowerment Act of 2019, which would modernize the voter registration process by providing online, automatic, and same day voter registration, along with many other changes. She also introduced a bill that would transform campaign financing by giving every American $200 in credit to donate to campaigns of their choice — — so long as that campaign didn’t accept any donations larger than $200.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced six voting and elections bills total, most of which were about voter registration. The Same Day Registration Act and the Register America to Vote Act offer same day and automatic voter registration respectively, while the Students VOTE Act would encourage educational agencies to provide voter registration information to 18 year old high school students. She also introduced the Honest Ads Act, which would require transparency from political advertisers, and a bill to increase funding for election security.
Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Eric Swalwell each had their own election security bill. Gabbard’s was the Securing America’s Elections Act of 2019, which would require voting systems produce voter-verified paper ballots. Swalwell’s was the Duty to Report Act, which would require political campaigns to report offers for help from foreign governments.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced two bills on what comes after the elections. Her Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act of 2019 would require the President and Vice-President to divest in any financial interests that may create a conflict of interest. Additionally, it would require all Presidential appointees to recuse themselves from investigations of the President’s finances and would require Presidential tax transparency. Her Transition Team Ethics Improvement Act would require President-elects to publicly release an ethics plan for their transition teams and report requests for security clearances to Congress. Warren’s oversight bills are in response to criticisms Democrats have had over President Trump over conflicts of interest from his private investments and lack of transparency during his transition.
Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker introduced oversight bills about the hiring process of federal agencies. Harris’ Ensuring Diverse Leadership Act of 2019 would require Federal Reserve banks to interview at least one individual reflective of gender diversity and one individual reflective of racial or ethnic diversity when appointing Federal Reserve bank presidents. Booker’s Fair Chance Act would prohibit Federal agencies and contractors from requiring applicants to disclose criminal history.
Other 2020 candidates have introduced bills in response to different criticisms of the Trump Administration or even other Members of Congress. In addition to her election security bills, Gillibrand introduced the National Commission on the Federal Response to Natural Disasters in Puerto Rico Act of 2019, which would create a “Congressional commission to investigate exactly how and why the federal government abandoned its responsibilities and turned its back on Puerto Rico,” according to Gillibrand. Rep. Tim Ryan introduced a bill condemning and censuring Representative Steve King of Iowa following King’s questioning of why the terms “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” were offensive.
Immigration
Immigration and oversight have had a special relationship this year. With the ongoing controversy about the separation of migrant families at the southern border, several of the 2020 Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation regulating the immigration policies of the executive branch. At the vanguard of that effort has been Sen. Kamala Harris.
Harris is responsible for three of the seven immigration bills introduced by candidates this year, two of which take hard swings at the executive branch. Her Families, Not Facilities Act would revoke $220 million of funding from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), shifting most of that money to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and human trafficking prevention efforts instead. It would also prohibit ICE from detaining and separating families. Her REUNITE Act would create a plan to reunite refugee families that have already been separated, funded by reallocating $50 million away from ICE.
Unrelated to the southern border, Harris also introduced the American Dream Employment Act, which would allow DACA DREAMers to work for Members of Congress.
Harris may have introduced the most immigration bills this year, but four other Members took their own shots at executive immigration policies. Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced the Protecting Disaster Relief Funds Act, which protects those funds from being reallocated to build a southern border wall. Meanwhile, Sen. Cory Booker combined his interest in immigration with his desire for prison reform in the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, which would set standards for the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration detention facilities. He also introduced a bill to “clarify that immigration enforcement is solely a function of the Federal Government,” which would prohibit State and local law enforcement from detaining illegal aliens. Sen. Amy Klobuchar also combined immigration with another interest. She introduced the Protecting Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence Act to provide immigration status for abused spouses and children.
Finally, Rep. Tim Ryan took a less confrontational approach to immigration oversight. He introduced a bill to establish a nonpartisan commission on immigration reform and border security that would report findings and recommendations to Congress.
This article was written by GovTrack staffer Ben Hammer. For questions or comments please contact ben@govtrack.us.
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