Election year politics are alive and well in the House, where Democrats are passing bills aimed at hurting President Trump even though the legislation has no chance in the Republican-led Senate. Last week, the House passed the No Ban Act on a mostly party-line vote. The bill would limit the president and the executive branch from imposing travel restrictions on certain regions or countries. "It severely restricts the president's executive ability, and even the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, from creating travel restrictions and preventing dangerous things from happening in the future," says Jordan Davidson with The Federalist.
The No Ban Act is aimed specifically at undoing Trump's 2017 travel ban, which restricts travel from a group of specific countries that are considered hotbeds of unchecked terrorism. Democrats have been seething since the Supreme Court upheld the ban in 2018. "The Supreme Court ruled in (Trump's) favor and upheld that Trump did have the executive authority and constitutional authority to limit that travel," says Davidson.
Although the bill targets the 2017 travel ban, it would also negate the 2020 bans that cut off travel to the U.S. from China and Europe to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "It's going to threaten national security if the president and other people who are monitoring these terrorists or threatening situations like COVID are prevented from acting on them," says Davidson. "Democrats have been critical of the way President Trump and his administration have handled COVID, but they continue to enact legislation like this which hinders his ability to act on things like banning people from coming from China during the pandemic."
Ultimately, the No Ban Act is just an exercise in politics, since it is expected to die in the GOP-controlled Senate.