Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Divided Families National Registry Act
This bill sets policy regarding families divided between North Korea and the United States. Specifically, the Department of State shall identify Korean American families who wish to be reunited with family members who live in North Korea and establish a national registry of information on those families to (1) facilitate future reunions, and (2) provide a repository of information about such families.
Additionally, the State Department shall ensure that any direct dialogue with North Korea includes progress towards holding future reunions for Korean American families and their family members who live in North Korea.
The State Department shall report to Congress periodically on the registry and on North Korean actions regarding potential reunions of divided families.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 30, 2024. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 8, 2024: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) introduced it on January 30, 2024, and 10 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on January 30, 2024, 1001 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 841 days ago, on July 8, 2024.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers