Jim has been the top Democrat on the powerful House Rules Committee since 2018, serving as Chairman during the 116th and 117th Congress. Jim has worked hard on the Rules Committee to change business as usual on Capitol Hill and make Congress work in a more open, transparent, bipartisan way. For example, he put in place rules to give all Members of Congress more time to read bills. He required that bills to go through the committee process instead of just being written behind closed doors, and he created a new office to recruit and retain congressional staff that reflect the diversity of the American people.
On the House Agriculture Committee, Jim has been a global leader in the fight to end hunger. He fought for and successfully secured a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health to make ending hunger a national priority. Thanks to Jim's advocacy and tireless work, military families are being screened for hunger for the first time ever, families with children get enhanced food benefits, schools are able to provide more nutritious meals, and America now has a plan to end hunger within the decade.
Jim has spent his career in public service working to strengthen America's global leadership when it comes to protecting human rights and promoting peace. He serves on two commissions which monitor, investigate and advocate on behalf of international human rights, the rule of law, and good governance: the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He has written and successfully passed into law several bills which help America identify and hold accountable corrupt foreign officials and human rights abusers. He has also authored and passed into law several pieces of legislation to hold the government of China accountable for human rights violations, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the Tibet Policy and Support Act, and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act
Jim's concern for human rights goes back to his time as a Congressional staffer, when he led an investigation into the murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. Jim uncovered that the murders were committed by Salvadoran soldiers who had been trained by the United States Government–leading to a major shift in public opinion and a change in U.S. policy that made future military aid contingent on improved human rights in El Salvador.
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