The bill
To designate a building of the Chancery of the United States in Pristina, Kosovo, as the "Eliot L. Engel Building".
HR. 8562, 119th Congress.
Sponsored by
Rep. Torres, Ritchie [D-NY-15]
ID: T000486
Follow the money
The bill
HR. 8562, 119th Congress.
The sponsor
Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.
The money
30 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.
The alignment
This bill's text tracks the "Department of Homeland Security" section, p. 201-204 of the Mandate for Leadership.
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 39 - 7.
May 12, 2026
📍 Current Status
Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the intellectually bankrupt inhabitants of Congress. Let's dissect this farce, shall we?
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The main purpose of HR 8562 is to stroke the ego of a deceased politician, Eliot L. Engel, by slapping his name on a building in Pristina, Kosovo. Because, clearly, the most pressing issue facing our nation is the lack of buildings named after obscure politicians. I'm sure the good people of Kosovo are just thrilled to have their capital city adorned with a monument to American bureaucratic self-aggrandizement.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill designates a single building as the "Eliot L. Engel Building" and updates all references to said building in various documents. Wow, I can barely contain my excitement. This is a bold move, folks. I mean, who needs meaningful policy changes when you can rename a building? It's not like there are more pressing issues, like, say, healthcare or education, that require attention.
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The affected parties include the deceased Eliot L. Engel's family, who will no doubt be thrilled to see their loved one's name immortalized on a building in a country most Americans can't find on a map. The people of Kosovo might also be affected, as they'll have to endure the ignominy of hosting a building named after an American politician. And, of course, the sponsors of this bill – Mr. Torres, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Meeks, and Mr. Mast – will get to bask in the glory of having accomplished something truly meaningless.
**Potential Impact & Implications:** The potential impact of this bill is precisely zero. It's a pointless exercise in self-congratulation, a legislative participation trophy for politicians who can't be bothered to tackle real issues. The implications are clear: our elected officials are more interested in padding their resumes and currying favor with special interest groups than in doing actual work. This bill is a symptom of a deeper disease – the corruption and cowardice that permeates our political system.
In conclusion, HR 8562 is a joke, a pathetic attempt to distract from the real problems facing our nation. It's a legislative placebo, designed to make politicians feel good about themselves while accomplishing nothing of substance. So, let's all take a moment to applaud the sponsors of this bill for their outstanding achievement in doing absolutely nothing. Bravo, gentlemen. Bravo.
Rep. Torres, Ritchie [D-NY-15]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
No committee contributions found
This bill has 7 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
ID: M001157
Top Contributors
22
ID: M001137
Top Contributors
23
ID: M001199
Top Contributors
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ID: L000606
Top Contributors
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ID: W000795
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ID: K000375
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ID: S000344
Top Contributors
26
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 47 nodes and 60 connections
Total contributions: $60
Showing top 16 donors by contribution amount
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.
AI Analysis:
"The bill is a symbolic naming of a diplomatic building and does not address the Project 2025 goal of reforming the State Department into a lean, politically aligned machine; alignment is limited to general diplomatic engagement."
— 169 — Department of Homeland Security 19. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, Management Directive No. 0810.1, June 10, 2004, https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/foia/mgmt_directive_0810_1_the_office_of_inspector_general. pdf (accessed March 15, 2023). 20. H.R. 5005, Homeland Security Act of 2002, Public Law No. 107-296, 107th Congress, November 25, 2002, https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/5005 (accessed January 18, 2023). — 171 — 6 DEPARTMENT OF STATE Kiron K. Skinner The U.S. Department of State’s mission is to bilaterally, multilaterally, and regionally implement the President’s foreign policy priorities; to serve U.S. citizens abroad; and to advance the economic, foreign policy, and national security interests of the United States. Since the U.S. Founding, the Department of State has been the American gov- ernment’s designated tool of engagement with foreign governments and peoples throughout the world. Country names, borders, leaders, technology, and people have changed in the more than two centuries since the Founding, but the basics of diplomacy remain the same. Although the Department has also evolved throughout the years, at least in the modern era, there is one significant problem that the next President must address to be successful. There are scores of fine diplomats who serve the President’s agenda, often helping to shape and interpret that agenda. At the same time, however, in all Administrations, there is a tug-of-war between Presidents and bureaucracies— and that resistance is much starker under conservative Presidents, due largely to the fact that large swaths of the State Department’s workforce are left-wing and predisposed to disagree with a conservative President’s policy agenda and vision. It should not and cannot be this way: The American people need and deserve a diplomatic machine fully focused on the national interest as defined through the election of a President who sets the domestic and international agenda for the nation. The next Administration must take swift and decisive steps to reforge the department into a lean and functional diplomatic machine that serves the
AI Analysis:
"HR 8562 is a ceremonial bill to name a U.S. diplomatic building in Kosovo after a former congressman, with no connection to immigration enforcement, detention, or Department of Homeland Security operations outlined in Project 2025."
— 142 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise Most of the foregoing can be accomplished rapidly and effectively through exec- utive action that is both lawful and appropriate. Additionally, ICE should clarify who is responsible for enforcing its criminal and civil authorities. It should also remove self-imposed limitations on its nationwide jurisdiction. l Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agents in the 1811 series should enforce Title 8 and 18 crimes as the biggest part of their portfolio. Alien smuggling, trafficking, and cross-border crime as defined under Title 85 and Title 186 should be the focus of ICE operations. l The role of ICE Deportation Officers should be clarified. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) should be identified as being primarily responsible for enforcing civil immigration regulations, including the civil arrest, detention, and removal of immigration violators anywhere in the United States, without warrant where appropriate, subject only to the civil warrant requirements of the INA where appropriate. l All ICE memoranda identifying “sensitive zones” where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating should be rescinded. Rely on the good judgment of officers in the field to avoid inappropriate situations. l To maximize the efficient use of its resources, ICE should make full use of existing Expedited Removal (ER) authorities. The agency has limited the use of ER to eligible aliens apprehended within 100 miles of the border. This is not a statutory requirement. New Policies U.S. national security and public safety interests would be well-served if ICE were to be combined with CBP and USCIS, as mentioned above. Additionally, ICE/ HSI, along with CBP, should be full participants in the Intelligence Community. The use of Blackies Warrants should be operationalized within ICE. These civil search warrants are commonly used for worksite enforcement when agents have probable cause that illegal aliens are employed at a business. This would stream- line investigations. Safeguarding Americans will require not just securing the border, but con- tinuous vetting and investigations of many aliens who exploited President Biden’s open border for potentially nefarious purposes, including some Afghan evacuees sent directly to the U.S. during America’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. — 143 — Department of Homeland Security Budget l Congress should mandate and fund additional bed space for alien detainees. ICE should be funded for a significant increase in detention space, raising the daily available number of beds to 100,000. l Congress should fund ICE for at least 20,000 ERO officers and 5,000 Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) attorneys. U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES (USCIS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the agency tasked with administering the legal immigration and certain temporary visa programs. Needed Reforms Since January 2021, USCIS’s priorities have been misaligned, and this has trans- formed it into an open-borders agency, ignoring the critical role that it plays in national security, public safety, and safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system. USCIS should be returned to operating as a screening and vetting agency. Regulatory efforts have focused on easing asylum eligibility in a manner that is guaranteed to exacerbate asylum fraud as people surge at the border. Emphasis also has been placed on removing legal barriers to immigration, such as the use of public benefits. These actions violate statutes, erode congressional intent, and provide a significant magnet for continued illegal immigration. Additionally, USCIS resources have been misappropriated to focus more on creating and expanding large-scale parole and temporary status programs that violate the law and are otherwise contrary to congressional intent instead of focus- ing on a more secure and efficient process for those who are seeking benefits. The ever-increasing number of applications filed has made it difficult to vet applica- tions adequately for eligibility, fraud, and specific national security and public safety problems. The Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) is currently a small directorate with assigned officers reporting through the chain of command in the field, and this has led to stovepiping, lack of coordination in national policy, and inconsistencies throughout the agency. To prioritize vetting and fraud detection, FDNS should undergo a structural shift focused on direct reporting from the field to headquarters, reclassification of leadership, and FDNS directives taking prece- dence over those of other component entities. Correcting the current misalignment of agency priorities and resources should begin with this primary shift in focus to vetting and fraud detection. These actions would reform the agency, returning it to its screening and vetting mission in protecting the homeland. Other structural changes should include reimplementation of the USCIS denat- uralization unit—an effort to maintain integrity in the system by identifying and
AI Analysis:
"The bill is a ceremonial naming of a diplomatic building in Kosovo and does not address visa-related labor-market monitoring, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification, or any Department of Labor reforms outlined in Project 2025."
— 616 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise Improve Visa-Related Labor-Market Monitoring DOL’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification plays an important role in the approval of H-visa applications, but it is currently housed in the Employment and Training Administration, which is DOL’s primary grant-making division. l OFLC should be moved out of ETA and made directly accountable to the Secretary with a politically accountable Director. CONCLUSION The good of the American family is at the heart of conservative labor policy recommendations. The longstanding tradition of a strong work ethic in American culture must be encouraged and strengthened by policies that promote family-sus- taining jobs. By eliminating the policies promoted by the DEI agenda, promoting pro-life policies that support family life, expanding available apprenticeship programs including by encouraging the role of religious organizations in appren- ticeships, making family-sustaining jobs accessible, simplifying employment requirements, and allowing employers to prefer American citizens when making hiring decisions, among the other policy recommendations discussed above, we can begin to secure a future in which the American worker, and by extension the American family, can thrive and prosper. AUTHOR’S NOTE: Many contributors, listed at the front of this volume, deserve credit for this work, but Oren Cass, Rachel Greszler, Rachel Morrison, Caleb Orr, and Jonathan Wolfson deserve special mention. The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual. — 617 — Department of Labor and Related Agencies ENDNOTES 1. Gretchen Livingston and Anna Brown, “Intermarriage in the U.S. Fifty Years after Loving v. Virginia,” Pew Research Center, May 18, 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/05/18/intermarriage-in-the- u-s-50-years-after-loving-v-virginia/ (accessed March 4, 2023). 2. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Executive Order 11246, “Equal Employment Opportunity,” https://www. presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-11246-equal-employment-opportunity (accessed March 7, 2023). 3. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, Public Law, 95-555. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 4. Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Public Law No. 117-328, div. II, 136 Stat. 4459 (2022). 5. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. 6. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392, June 24, 2022, https://www.supremecourt.gov/ opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf (accessed March 7, 2023). 7. Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. Ch. 18 § 1001 et seq. 8. Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. Ch. 21B § 2000bb et seq. 9. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. § 203. 10. Department of Labor, Promoting Regulatory Openness Through Good Guidance, Federal Register, Vol. 85, No. 168, August 28, 2020, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-08-28/pdf/2020-18500.pdf (accessed March 7, 2023). 11. Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Ch. 5, subchapter 1, § 500 et seq. 12. Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. Ch. 6 § 601 et seq. 13. Donald J. Trump, Executive Order 13932, “Modernizing and Reforming the Assessment and Hiring of Federal Job Candidates,” Federal Register, Vol. 85, No. 187 (July 1, 2020) pp. 39457–39459, https://www.federalregister. gov/documents/2020/07/01/2020-14337/modernizing-and-reforming-the-assessment-and-hiring-of-federal- job-candidates (accessed March 7, 2023). 14. Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, Public Law 113-128. 15. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, S.3548, 116th Congress, 2nd Sess. 16. Federal Unemployment Tax Act, I.R.C., Ch. 23. 17. American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Public Law 117-2. 18. Teamwork for Employees and Managers (TEAM) Act of 2022, S. 3585, 117th Congress, 2nd Sess. 19. Worker’s Choice Act of 2019, H.R. 5147, 116th Congress, 1st Sess. 20. F. Vincent Vernuccio, “Back to Business,” October 8, 2020, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/ back-to-business (accessed March 4, 2023). 21. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. § 203. 22. Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. Ch. 15 § 651 et seq. 23. Davis–Bacon Act of 1931, Public Law 71-798. 24. Social Security Act of 1935, 42 U.S.C. Ch. 7. 25. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Public Law 99-603.
Showing 3 of 5 policy matches
Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.