Mondaire Jones

Mondaire has been called one of the most active members of the freshman class and his most recent fight is against Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) who has publicly said he wants a bipartisan voting rights and anti-corruption bill. In an op-ed, Mondaire pointed to the January 6 insurrection committee in which not one Republican Senator voted in favor of. As Mondaire puts it “if there aren’t 10 Republicans willing to investigate an insurrection that almost claimed their lives, there aren’t 10 Republicans willing to protect democracy.” Sounds harsh, but is there a bit of truth behind that statement?

Mondaire got a nice pat on the back this week, being named the most active freshman Congressman so far, in an analysis report by Axios. By the numbers, Mondaire has introduced or sponsored more than 278 pieces of legislation in only 140 days. He beat the previously held legislative record by more than 60. Among his bills include the SALT Deductibility Act, which would restore state and local tax deductions to levels prior to the Trump Tax plan, the Universal Child Care Act, which has been a signature issue for him so far, and the Juror Non-Discrimination Act, which more formally prohibits LGBT discrimination among jury selection. Suffice it to say that Mondaire is off to the races and reflecting on that, he said. “My team and I have wasted no time in getting to work for the people… but our work has only begun.”

“I’ve been in Congress for 5 months and I’m already tired of having to vote to reauthorize things that we know should be permanent,” Mondaire said during remarks last week about the child tax credit. The American Rescue plan expanded the child tax credit, which issues money to lower income families with children – but it’s only temporary. Mondaire, and many other Democrats, are arguing that the expansion should be permanent. The reality, he points out, is that nearly 15% of children (and 25% of black children) live below the poverty line and deserve to be looked out for. Of course, this all requires the government shelling up the money. That larger point here that we should all note, is this idea that there are all of these initiatives that must constantly be reauthorized. Does that process seem efficient? Necessary? Wasteful?

The lack of high quality, affordable childcare is hard to find and keeps many parents from being in the workforce. Mondaire, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) reintroduced the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act that would ensure every family has access to high-quality, affordable childcare and early learning opportunities. This was a top priority when Mondaire was running for Congress and a recent study shows that it would increase the number of women working with young children by 17% and increase women’s lifetime earnings by nearly $100,000 on average. It all comes to the cost of $700 billion over 10 years. Crunch the numbers – worth it?

Mondaire joined several influential Democratic colleagues in introducing legislation that would increase the number of Supreme Court Justices, something the Republicans are actively trying to thwart with their own legislation and the “Keep The Nine” campaign. The Judiciary Act of 2021 would expand the court to a total of 13 Justices, adding 4 more to the current 9. Mondaire’s reasoning is simple: “To restore power to the people, we must expand the Supreme Court.” With a 6-3 Conservative majority in the court, it’s no surprise this is an issue Dems are keen on, but the real question will be can it gain steam among the moderates and specifically, the President?

Over 50% of American adults have used cannabis, however 5 White House staffers were recently fired after disclosing that they’d gotten down with the bud. Mondaire and several other House Democrats have now written to the president, asking him to reverse that decision. The letter asked the president to consider the public statements he himself has made in support of cannabis legalization and destigmatization. While it seems like this policy was not specifically implemented by the Biden administration, it does beg a hypocrisy question. Do you think Mondaire and his colleagues are right to call out the president or is one toke one too many to work at the White House?

A couple months ago, we wrote about one of Mondaire’s constituents, Paul Pierrilus, who was deported to Haiti, a country he had never been to. Paul had come to the United States with his parents when he was 5 years old. Essentially, Paul is “stateless” and unfortunately with a drug offense in his early 20’s, it came to ICE’s attention and he was deported. This is one of the reasons why Mondaire is so passionate about the American Dream and Promise Act passage which helps establish a pathway to legal permanent residency for Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients. How do you feel about this act?

H.R. 1, the For the People Act, passed the House as a package of voting-rights proposals. Mondaire and fellow Political Playlist politician Cori Bush (D-MO) introduced an amendment to the package that would grant voting rights to convicted felons and allow them to vote from prison (currently Maine, Vermont, and D.C. allow it). The amendment failed, kind of by a lot, 97-328, but activists are hopeful that this was the beginning, not the end, of the debate over voting rights for prisoners. As the conversation continues, Mondaire noted, “Every human being then deserves to be able to vote in their best interest. Anything less than that is inhumane and a form of slavery. Indeed it is the ‘New Jim Crow’.”

Every year since 2013, Congresswoman Susan Davis of California introduced an anti-LGBTQ discrimination in jury selection bill that hit a wall each time. So when she retired this past year (and was succeeded by Under-45er Sara Jacobs) it looked as though the bill was not meant to be. That is, until Mondaire stepped in and “picked up the mantel.” As one of two gay, Black men in Congress, the issue of fair LQBTQ representation on a jury is a personal one – “Our Constitution guarantees the right to trial by a jury of one’s peers, but LGBTQ defendants are deprived of that right.” The proposed legislation would effectively add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of discriminatory reasons for which you cannot strike a juror. While the Senate may still remain an unclearable hurdle, Jones remains optimistic, as do many others.

Did somebody say tax relief? Fun fact, Westchester and Rockland Counties in New York pay some of the highest property taxes in the entire nation according to Mondaire. This is why he introduced the SALT Deductibility Act, which would remove President Trump’s $10,000 cap on the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction for property taxes. The SALT deduction allows taxpayers of high-tax states to deduct local tax payments on their federal tax returns. Over 45% of the residents used the SALT deduction with an average deduction of $26,243 before the $10,000 cap was put in place. Sounds like some positive legislation for homeowners, we just have one question – more SALT please?