MORE POWER for Feb. 3rd
1000 MORE's weekly nonpartisan roundup of the most important happenings in federal government, written in a way that doesn't require a law degree to understand, with tools to take action
February 3, 2023
This week in MORE POWER:
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
Republicans oust Rep. Ilhan Omar from committee
COVID-19 bills
Regulating white supremacy
Trust in Congress Act is back
Senate update
Crowdfund advocacy on reproductive freedom
Where Is The George Floyd Justice In Policing Act?
In the last Congress, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed the House but died in the Senate. This bill would hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court, improve transparency through data collection, and reform police training and policies.
While President Biden has asked the new Congress to send the bill to his desk, it has not yet been reintroduced. Last term, Rep. Karen Bass, (D-CA) introduced it, but she has since left Congress to become the first Black woman mayor of Los Angeles.
Did you know you can call your representative to ask them to introduce a bill?
Kicking Rep. Omar Off Of Foreign Affairs
Yesterday, the House voted in a strict party line vote to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, (D-MN) - the only African-born member of Congress, who came here as a child fleeing war in Somalia - from the Foreign Affairs Committee. She was in line to be the top Democrat on the foreign affairs panel's Africa subcommittee until yesterday's vote.
Congressional committee assignments are important because it is in committee meetings that members form legislation during a process known as a bill "mark-up." The typical process for a bill to become law is: 1.) Introduced on the floor 2.) Referred to a committee based on topic 3.) Hearings and mark-up in committee meetings 4.) Committee vote 5.) Bills that pass out of committee can be put on the schedule for a vote in the full chamber.
House Republicans used past antisemitic comments Omar made in previous terms of Congress, comments Omar has apologized for, as justification for the vote. Yet the vote was widely considered political retribution for the removals of Marjorie Taylor Green, (R-GA) and Paul Gosar, (R-AZ) from committee assignments in the last Congress for making racist and antisemitic remarks and promoting violence.
After the vote, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, (D-NY) announced that he plans to appoint Omar to a seat on the House Budget Committee, considered to be one of the most powerful committee assignments, as it largely controls how money gets spent. Have a view on this that you would like to share?
COVID Is Over?
This week, the House passed three separate bills related to the COVID-19 pandemic:
H.R.497 - Freedom for Health Care Workers Act: this bill would eliminate the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate on health care providers.
H.R.382 - Pandemic is Over Act: this bill would end the public health emergency declared for the COVID-19 pandemic. (Note: when this bill was added to the House's voting schedule, the White House responded by announcing that the pandemic public health emergency would officially end in May, making this bill unnecessary.)
H.R.139 - SHOW UP Act: The Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems Act, or SHOW UP Act, would effectively force government agencies to bring workers back to the office. Mayor of Washington, D.C. Muriel Bowser has been asking the federal government to either bring workers back to the office or end their downtown office space leases so that these buildings can be converted to housing to meet high demand.
These bills are headed to the Senate. Have a view that you would like to share?
Leading Against White Supremacy Act
In the past few years, there has been much debate about the amount of attention and resources the federal government devotes to domestic terror threats by white supremacists.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, (D-TX) wrote a bill to address that. H.R.61 - Leading Against White Supremacy Act (LAWS Act) would amend title 18 of United States Code, to expand the scope of hate crimes to prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crimes and conspiracy to commit white supremacy inspired hate crimes.
The bill has been introduced in the House but has yet to be called for a vote. You can use 1000 MORE to read more about it and share your views on it with your Representative.
The Trust In Congress Act Is Back
Rep. Chip Roy, (R-TX) is known for being a hard right member of the House Freedom Caucus. So it may surprise you to find that he is a co-author, alongside Rep. Abigail Spanberger, (D-VA) of a bipartisan bill with 48 co-sponsors and counting: H.R.345 - TRUST in Congress Act. This bill would require Members of Congress, as well as their spouses and dependent children, to place certain assets into blind trusts, effectively banning them from trading individual stocks and profiting off of their positions in public service.
The bill is widely popular among voters across the political spectrum and it has been picking up steam since the end of the last Congress. The bill was reintroduced in the House this term, but it has yet to be scheduled for a vote. You can use 1000 MORE to read more about the bill and share your views on it with your Representative.
Senate Slowdown
At the start of the year, it looked like the House was going to be the pace-slowing chamber of Congress, with a 15-round vote to elect a Speaker. Then the Senate trumped them as the chamber of inaction, voting only three times in the entire month of January.
This week, Senate Republicans finally came to an agreement on committee assignments, which had been effectively blocking the chamber from moving forward on any meaningful legislation. The Senate passed resolutions to formalize committee assignments on Thursday. We expect the pace of votes to pick up up from here.
Crowdfund Advocacy On Anti-Abortion Bills
This year, the House passed H.R.26 - Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act by a vote of 220-210, with one Democrat voting with 219 Republicans - Rep. Henry Cuellar, (D-TX). The bill would, among other things, prosecute health care providers for failure to uphold the bill's degree-of-care requirements, making them subject to criminal penalties—a fine, up to five years in prison, or both.
The bill passed the House and is now in the Senate. You can use 1000 MORE to crowdfund advocacy for or against this bill.
