Democrat Defends Bill That Would Check Cabinet Picks’ Foreign Dealings

Senator-elect Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, on Saturday defended a bill he recently introduced that would check Cabinet nominees’ foreign dealings.

On Thursday, Kim, a sitting U.S. representative for the Garden State who was elected senator in the November 5 election, introduced a bill that requires nominees for certain senior positions in the Defense Department, State Department and Treasury Department, as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to “publicly disclose information about recent financial transactions with foreign governments.”

The legislation comes after President-elect Donald Trump made some controversial Cabinet picks for his incoming administration. Kim, meanwhile, said on Saturday that the bill had been a long time in the making and was not politically motivated.

“We wrote this bill well before Nov 5. This is not about politics, it’s about our security,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, late Saturday morning.

Newsweek reached out to Kim’s office via telephone and Trump’s team via email for comment Saturday afternoon.

Kim said in a statement on Thursday that the bill is meant to “bolster people’s confidence” in Cabinet picks.

“At a time when trust in government is at historic lows, we need to be taking steps to show the American people they can have faith that their government officials are working to serve their interests first,” the senator-elect said. “This bill would help prioritize transparency in the confirmation process, mitigate foreign influence, and bolster people’s confidence in presidential nominees as they seek to represent our country’s national security interests.”

The bill was also introduced in the upper chamber on Thursday by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat.

“The American people shouldn’t have to worry that high-ranking government officials are in the pocket of a foreign government,” she said in a statement on Thursday. “The National Security Officials’ Foreign Employment Disclosure Act will guarantee the public and Congress can consider a nominee’s potential loyalties before their confirmation.”