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Tag: legislation

  • House Dems reintroduce reparations legislation: ‘We refuse to be silent’

    House Dems reintroduce reparations legislation: ‘We refuse to be silent’

    House Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced legislation that aims to find ways to deliver reparations to Black Americans who are descendants of slaves.

    Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is co-leading the reintroduction of H.R.40, or the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, to Congress with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

    Pressley, a progressive member of the Squad, said during a news conference that “reparations are a necessary step in achieving justice.”

    “We are in a moment of anti-Blackness on steroids and we refuse to be silent,” Pressley said. “We will not back down in our pursuit of racial justice.”

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    Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., reintroduced H.R.40, a bill that aims to create a commission to study the impact of slavery and develop ways to deliver reparations to African Americans who are descendants of slaves. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, File)

    The bill aims to create a federal commission charged with investigating the enduring impacts of slavery and its aftermath, along with developing concrete proposals for reparations to African Americans who are descendants of slaves, Pressley said.

    Reparations can take different forms but broadly refer to payments or other forms of recompense to the descendants of Black individuals affected by slavery or past racist policies.

    Democratic politicians in blue states, including California, in recent years have floated reparations as a way to atone for what proponents describe as a legacy of racist policies that created disparities for Black people in housing, education and health.

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    Democrats on the Hill and in California have pushed for passage of reparations legislation, with other cities and states proposing ideas for reparations.

    In August, however, a pair of reparations-related bills for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans failed to pass in the California legislature after backers said the bills would not move forward and were at risk of being vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    Sen. Cory Booker

    Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in a statement last month that “we as a nation have not yet truly acknowledged and grappled with the ways slavery, racism, and white supremacy continue to disadvantage African Americans.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

    Booker’s office released a statement last month on the bill’s reintroduction, which 17 Democratic senators are cosponsoring. 

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    “We as a nation have not yet truly acknowledged and grappled with the ways slavery, racism, and white supremacy continue to disadvantage African Americans,” Booker said in a statement. “Commissioning a study to better understand where our country has fallen short will help lawmakers better address the racial disparities and inequalities that persist today as a result of generational injustices.”

    Fox News’ Joshua Q. Nelson and Jaime Joseph contributed to this report.

  • SEAL congressman introduces legislation to pull back veil on threat cartels pose

    SEAL congressman introduces legislation to pull back veil on threat cartels pose

    A Navy SEAL veteran-turned-congressman is fighting to pull back the curtain on the growing threat of Mexican drug cartels and other organized crime groups, introducing legislation Thursday aimed at providing Americans with transparency about the dangers they pose.

    “Thanks to the Biden administration’s open-border policies, dangerous cartels have been running our borders and profiting from human and drug trafficking,” Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

    Luttrell introduced the CARTEL Act, which mandates that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report whether individuals listed in the Terrorist Screening Database were released into the United States.

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    Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, is introducing the CARTEL Act to provide the public with information about whether individuals listed in the Terrorist Screening Database were released into the U.S. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

    The legislation also mandates the transparent tracking of individuals associated with cartels who have attempted illegal crossings.

    The bill comes just a few weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that moved the U.S. toward designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The order says the organizations “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”

    “The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” the order adds.

    Donald Trump at desk in Oval Office closeup shot

    President Donald Trump has signed a number of executive orders related to border security in the early days of his second administration. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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    The order highlighted both Mexican cartels and other gangs throughout Latin America, such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and El Salvador’s MS-13, which have raised alarms in recent years after reports of gang activity spreading to the United States.

    Luttrell, who served seven years as a Navy SEAL, believes the legislation will offer Americans transparency on just who is trying to enter the country, while also mandating that CBP provide a comprehensive report to Congress showing which terrorist organizations and cartels are working to enter the country.

    The CARTEL Act is co-sponsored by representatives Bryan Steil, R-Wis., Daniel Webster, R-Fla., Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Randy Weber, R-Texas.

    Arizona Border Wall With Mexico

    Members of violent Latin American gangs such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are a key concern in Luttrell’s legislation.  (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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    “Americans deserve to know exactly who is trying to enter our country,” Luttrell said. “The CARTEL Act will provide critical transparency and accountability in the fight to secure our borders and protect our communities.”

    Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News, Michael worked for the Washington Examiner, Bongino.com, and Unbiased America. He has covered politics for more than eight years.