Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) is fighting to change House rules to require mandatory background checks for House staffers, warning there is “absolutely” foreign interference on Capitol Hill.
Her resolution, which would modify House rules, would require staffers to disclose dual citizenship and employment with foreign nations.
“I can tell you a target-rich environment would be an investigation into all of the trips that staff take abroad at the expense of foreign governments,” she said.
“This is a bipartisan, bicameral problem, by the way,” she continued. “It’s not exclusive to one side or the other.”
The Florida Republican told the Washington Examiner in an interview that while she has received support on the issue, leadership is in no rush to put it to a vote.
“I have presented this to leadership multiple times and while everyone agrees that it’s a good idea, there seems to be zero urgency,” Cammack said.
Congressional staffers can access sensitive information such as Social Security numbers on casework files and veterans’ records with no background check, but federal employees across the executive branch are subject to a background check.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) called for leadership to put the resolution on the floor “immediately.” The measure would need a simple majority vote on the House floor to be enacted.
“Some seriously disturbing declassified files will be coming out in the coming weeks about a Former Member Of Congress placing interns in other offices that happen to be agents of foreign governments,” Luna posted on X. “Representative Kat Cammack has legislation that would require background checks on staff and it should be brought to the floor immediately. Also, this is a massive security breach.”
Cammack said members are “stunned” to find out their staff does not go through background checks.
“People who I spoke to on both sides of the aisle were stunned to find out that their staff was not automatically checked by Capitol Police or sergeant-at-arms for the background check. They thought it was done already,” she said.
The congresswoman added that “this resolution is so important because it doesn’t single out a single nation. It just says there’s a universal transparency standard.”
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But while the resolution has bipartisan support, there have still been concerns.
“The part that received a tremendous amount of pushback was the disclosure of dual citizenship and any ties to organizations that have been funded by foreign governments,” Cammack said.