If a candidate for president held dual citizenship in another country, wouldn’t voters want to know that?
The Dual Loyalty Disclosure Act is a new congressional bill aimed at requiring candidates for federal office to publicly disclose all countries in which they hold citizenship.
While no current sitting member of Congress is known to have dual citizenship, there have been instances in the past. Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, held dual citizenship with Canada before renouncing his Canadian legal status. So did former Congresswoman Michele Bachman, who inherited Swiss citizenship through marriage but soon turned it down.
House Resolution 2356 was introduced on March 26, with Congressman Nick Begich among the bill’s prominent cosponsors. Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the bill’s prime sponsor, says voters have a right to know whether candidates owe legal allegiance to any countries other than the United States.
HR 2356 would mandate that candidates for positions such as president, vice president, US senator, and US. representative submit disclosures listing all nations of which they are citizens. While federal law already prohibits dual citizens from holding certain federal security clearances, there is currently no requirement for candidates seeking public office to reveal foreign citizenships.
The legislation amends the Federal Election Campaign Act to require candidates for federal office to disclose both their possession of dual citizenship and also the foreign country in which their dual citizenship is held. The disclosure of dual citizenship status would appear publicly in the statement of candidacy filed when political candidates seek election to federal office.
Although it has just been introduced and will need to pass both chambers of Congress and be signed by the president to become law, the Dual Loyalty Disclosure Act is part of the national debate over transparency, loyalty, and eligibility standards for federal officeholders.
“Dual citizens elected to the United States Congress should renounce citizenship in all other countries,” said Massie. “At a minimum, they should disclose their citizenship in other countries and abstain from votes specifically benefitting those countries. If we are going to continue to allow Members of Congress to acquire and retain citizenship in other countries, they should at least be required to disclose to voters all countries of which they consider themselves to be citizens.”
The Congressional Research Service publishes reports about the demographics of Congress after each election cycle, but does not include dual citizenship as part of its report.
The bill has just one committee of referral — House Administration. Other cosponsors of the bill include Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana.
Just gets better and better.
The disclosure requirement should be extended to cover all federal employees. I can think of many situations where divided loyalties would be of concern, particularly in jobs involving national security and law enforcement.
And tangentially, I recall flying out of an East Coast airport several years ago when there was major doubt about the citizenship status of ALL of the TSA officers. (They were checking to determine if I was a terrorist? Roles seemed to be reversed…)
What we want to see is all candidate tax returns
Waste of time!
Nick has restored faith back to the Begich name. So proud of him.
He should go by just the name NICK.
I could never but a bumper sticker on my vehicle that says “Begich”
“NB3 Forever” would work too.
This is a grand idea. Make it happen.
Are we starting to notice something ???
Forbes estimates that up to 30 members of Congress hold dual citizenship, with Israel being the most common country of choice. It is insanity to allow this in our elected officials at the federal level!
This should be extended to include all federal employees, and maybe even to state politicians also!
As to the president, he would not be a “natural born” citizen as the constitution requires if he had dual citizenship as the definition of natural born citizen is one who only is a citizen of THIS country, which would of excluded Ted Cruz, as a natural born citizen doesn’t have to renounce their Canadian citizenship in order to comply or be allowed to run. A natural born citizen has NO other loyalty than to this country!
Recently there was the arrest of an U.S. Air Force member for ‘terrorism’ who had dual citizenship with U.S. and Lebanon. He also had a ‘top secret security clearance. Why are we allowing military member to have dual citizenship and thereby divided loyalties? Even more disturbing is what do ‘security clearances’ stand for these days? What could possibly disqualify one from getting a security clearance, right Congressman Swalwell (boy friend of Fang Fang)?
How can anyone be fully confident in or of the actions taken by someone who owes allegiance to both the U.S. and a foreign country?
An excellent question to ask of AIPAC, who have an official “minder” for almost every US congressman and senator.
I would rather see an end to Citizens United! I want to know who is funding their campaigns, and the supposed independent expenditure campaigns. We need to know who is paying to elect our congressional representatives, state legislatures, presidents and governors.
Israeli is the most common second citizenship for politicians. Interesting, don’t you think?
Wonderful Thank you Nick for what u are doing