HJRES-206-119
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Sponsored by Scott Perry (R-PA)
What it does
This joint resolution would propose a constitutional amendment requiring all members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to be natural-born citizens. Currently, the Constitution requires Representatives to have been citizens for 7 years and Senators for 9 years, but does not require natural-born status. The amendment includes a grandfather clause allowing any sitting naturalized citizen currently serving in Congress to complete their existing term, after which they would be permanently ineligible to serve.
Who benefits
Supporters of stricter citizenship requirements for federal officeholders. Voters who favor the proposed change and would gain a constitutional guarantee of natural-born status for their congressional representatives. Candidates who are natural-born citizens and would face a reduced pool of eligible competitors in some races.
Who is hurt
Naturalized U.S. citizens — approximately 23 million people — who are currently eligible to run for Congress but would be permanently barred from doing so after the amendment takes effect. Current naturalized citizens serving in Congress who would be ineligible to seek re-election after their term ends. Immigrant communities whose naturalized members would lose a pathway to direct congressional representation. Political parties that recruit naturalized citizens as candidates.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the same natural-born citizen requirement already applies to the presidency under Article II, and that extending it to Congress ensures the nation's lawmakers share the same foundational eligibility standard as its chief executive. They contend that members of Congress wield enormous power over national security, foreign policy, and immigration law, and that a natural-born citizenship requirement provides a consistent, objective standard that voters and institutions can rely on without case-by-case scrutiny of individual loyalties or ties.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that the existing Constitution already sets citizenship duration requirements for Congress — 7 years for Representatives, 9 years for Senators — and that these waiting periods were deliberately chosen by the Framers as a sufficient loyalty test without barring naturalized citizens entirely. They contend that permanently disqualifying roughly 23 million naturalized Americans from congressional service creates a permanent two-tiered citizenship, undermining the principle that naturalization confers full and equal civic standing, and disproportionately silencing immigrant communities from direct legislative representation.