August 6, 2026
Ms. Chu (for herself, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Barragán, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Carson, Mr. Correa, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Dexter, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. García of Illinois, Mrs. Grijalva, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Randall, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sánchez, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Simon, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Williams of Georgia, and Ms. Wilson of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To provide that no Federal funds may be used to carry out the final
rule of the Department of Homeland Security entitled Public Charge Ground of
Inadmissibility
, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Protect American Values Act
.
Sec. 2. Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1)
immigrants and their families are a core part of this Nation;
(2)
their health and safety is critical to the health and safety of our communities;
(3)
Federal, State, and local assistance programs promote self-sufficiency by ensuring that families, including immigrant and mixed-status families, maintain their health, strength, and stability, and can continue contributing to the Nation’s social and economic life;
(4)
the rule of the Department of Homeland Security entitled Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility
(91 Fed. Reg. 45324) is a dangerous policy that will impede access to essential food, medical care, and housing for many families, while injecting severe uncertainty and arbitrariness for immigrants adjusting to lawful permanent resident status;
(5)
the rule would damage State and local economies while burdening health and service providers, and the Department of Homeland Security itself, in the preamble of the proposed rule, acknowledges the severe consequences of this proposal including that it could have, downstream and upstream impacts on State and local economies, large and small businesses, and individuals
, would increase the poverty of certain families and children, including U.S. Citizen children
, and may lead to downstream effects on public health, community stability, and resilience
including worse health outcomes, such as increased prevalence of obesity and malnutrition
, higher prevalence of communicable diseases
, and increased rates of uncompensated care
; and
(6)
the rule would circumvent Congress and reverse over 140 years of law and policy, restricting immigration and chilling access to services for which immigrants and their United States citizen family members are eligible, in a manner not authorized or contemplated by Congress.
Sec. 3. Restriction on Federal funds
No Federal funds (including fees) made available for any fiscal year, may be used to implement, administer, enforce, or carry out the rule of the Department of Homeland Security entitled Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility
(91 Fed. Reg. 45324) or any guidance or sub-regulatory policy that implements or clarifies such rule.