June 28
The presidential debate last night was a hot mess between Former President Donald Trump’s lies and racism and President Biden’s inability to articulate a coherent thought, but nonetheless, the show goes on in Congress. We’re still focused on delivering news about the bills that are moving on the Hill right now that could impact your life if made law.
This week in MORE POWER:
BUMP Stocks Here to Stay
Neighbors Cooperating
Happy Spouse, Happy House
Budget Drama Starts Again
Reuniting Divided Families
BUMP Stocks Here to Stay
In response to the Supreme Court overturning the Trump-era bump stock ban earlier this month, Sen. Heinrich (D–N.M.) asked the Senate to bring the Banning Unlawful Machinegun Parts (BUMP) Act to a vote. Bump stocks are devices that gun-users can put on their guns to make them fire faster, like a machine gun. The ban came after a deadly mass shooting carried out with the use of the tool. This week, the bill to legislatively reinstate the ban divided Republicans, and Sen. Ricketts (R-Neb.) ultimately blocked it. It has bipartisan support and could come up for a vote again.
Neighbors Cooperating
The House passed a bill to decrease opioid and fentanyl trafficking across our borders. The American Cooperation With Our Neighbors Act is designed to improve cooperation between the U.S. and neighboring countries, including Mexico and countries in Central America and the Caribbean. Specifically, it would emphasize a Mexico-U.S. shared strategy to reduce fentanyl and opioid trafficking, as drug overdose is a threat to Americans’ public health. Additionally, the bill would authorize a study on possible space-based telecommunications technologies for Mexico, as well as countries in Central America and the Caribbean.
Happy Spouse, Happy House
President Biden just expanded protections from deportation to U.S. citizens’ undocumented husbands and wives. Additionally, the protections would allow these spouses to legally work in the U.S. The protections protect those undocumented people who have lived in the United States for 10 years or more and are married to a citizen.
The protections are estimated to apply to over 500,000 undocumented people, including some undocumented stepchildren of U.S. citizens. To many, this move is considered an attempt to create balance after the president’s last immigration decision, which closed the U.S.-Mexico border to many asylum seekers.
Budget Drama Begins Again
The annual appropriations process is how Congress distributes federal funds to various government agencies, departments, and programs for the upcoming fiscal year. Currently, the House is working on three appropriation bills: the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, and the Department of Defense Appropriations Act.
These bills are quite contentious. In three distinct statements, the White House clarified that, should Congress pass these bills as they are currently written, President Biden will veto all three. The White House said that the bills contained provisions that would “result in deep [budget] cuts to law enforcement, education, housing, healthcare, consumer safety, energy programs that lower utility bills and combat climate change, and essential nutrition services.”
Reuniting Divided Families
The House passed the Divided Families National Registry Act, which would create a registry of Korean American families who were separated from family members living in North Korea. It would also direct the State Department to work with North Korea to make reunification among families possible through in-person or video meetings.
Families have been unable to reunite since the Korean War Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953. This is because while the agreement did end the Korean War’s active combat, it did not result in a formal peace treaty between North and South Korea, leaving families separated.
What Congress Passed
The Senate is in a state work period.
Nothing.
What POTUS Signed Into Law
Nothing.
