To require the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to link together applications of family members throughout the NEXUS application process, and for other purposes.

Download PDF
Bill ID: 119/hr/9382
Last Updated: September 15, 2026

Sponsored by

Rep. Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY-26]

ID: K000402

Follow the money

The bill

To require the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to link together applications of family members throughout the NEXUS application process, and for other purposes.

HR. 9382, 119th Congress.

The sponsor

Rep. Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY-26]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$79,500 raised

22 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

55% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Department of Homeland Security" section, p. 171-173 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 726.

September 14, 2026

Introduced

📍 Current Status

Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.

🏛️

Committee Review

🗳️

Floor Action

✅

Passed House

🏛️

Senate Review

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

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!

Bill Summary

**Summary of H.R. 9382: Linking Family NEXUS Applications Act**

**1. Main Purpose & Objectives** The stated purpose of H.R. 9382 is to streamline the NEXUS trusted traveler program by requiring U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to electronically link the applications of family members residing in the same household. Ostensibly, this aims to reduce bureaucratic redundancy, simplify scheduling, and improve the user experience for families seeking expedited border clearance between the U.S. and Canada. The real objective? To slap a “family-friendly” label on a minor administrative tweak while ignoring the fact that NEXUS remains a pay-to-play privilege for the affluent—another example of Congress mistaking convenience for compassion.

**2. Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law** The bill mandates that, within 180 days of enactment, the CBP Commissioner must: - Link family member applications in the NEXUS system (defined as parents, legal guardians, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings in a single household). - Allow one family member to schedule interviews for all linked applicants. - Permit joint interviews for linked families (optional). - Exempt children under 14 from interviews if linked to an eligible family member’s application.

This codifies minor operational flexibility that CBP could have implemented administratively—turning a routine service improvement into a legislative spectacle. No changes to eligibility, fees, background checks, or program access are made. In essence, it’s a process tweak dressed up as reform.

**3. Affected Parties & Stakeholders** - **Affected:** NEXUS applicants (primarily frequent cross-border travelers, often higher-income), CBP officers (minor workflow adjustment), and children under 14 (who avoid interviews—big win for toddlers). - **Stakeholders:** Airline and travel industry lobbyists (who love anything that makes cross-border travel slightly less annoying), suburban families with global entry aspirations, and CBP’s IT contractors (who’ll bill for the system update). - **Not Affected:** Anyone who can’t afford the $50 NEXUS fee, lacks documentation, or lives outside the Great Lakes/Northeast corridor—i.e., the majority of Americans. The bill does nothing to expand access or address equity.

**4. Potential Impact & Implications** - **Impact:** Marginal convenience for a narrow demographic. Families may save 10–15 minutes in scheduling. Children avoid awkward interviews with border officers—undoubtedly a relief for all parties. - **Implications:** This bill exemplifies legislative theater: a low-cost, low-risk feel-good measure that solves a problem barely anyone noticed while avoiding harder issues like immigration reform, border staffing shortages, or the NEXUS program’s elitist accessibility. It’s the political equivalent of putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound and calling it preventive care. - **Bottom Line:** H.R. 9382 is a harmless, pointless indulgence—like prescribing vitamins to a patient with sepsis. It does nothing harmful, but it does nothing meaningful either. Congress gets to claim it “helped families” while avoiding real work. The patients (taxpayers) pay the co-pay in cynicism.

Related Topics

Immigration & Border SecurityLabor & Employment PolicyCongressional Rules & Procedures
Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Rep. Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY-26]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$79,500
19 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$6,600
Committees
$0
Individuals
$72,900

No PAC contributions found

1
SENECA NATION OF INDIANS
2 transactions
$6,600

No committee contributions found

1
RECHLER, SCOTT H.
2 transactions
$10,000
2
FROMEN, JOHN J. JR
2 transactions
$8,400
3
O'BRIEN, CHRISTOPHER
1 transaction
$5,000
4
LOGOTHETIS, GEORGE
1 transaction
$3,300
5
SIMON, BRIAN W.
1 transaction
$3,300
6
LO, WILLIAM
1 transaction
$3,300
7
YUHNKE, WILLIAM
1 transaction
$3,300
8
BUCHHEIT, GERALD A.
1 transaction
$3,300
9
CIMINELLI, PAUL F.
1 transaction
$3,300
10
CARONE, FRANK
1 transaction
$3,300
11
CARUBBA, JOSEPH
1 transaction
$3,300
12
PERSICO, JENNIFER C.
1 transaction
$3,300
13
OSTROFF, RICHARD L.
1 transaction
$3,300
14
MERINOFF, CHARLES
1 transaction
$3,300
15
COLE, JACQUELINE
1 transaction
$3,300
16
CORRADO, JOHN J.
1 transaction
$3,300
17
KOSTRZEWSKI, MARK B.
1 transaction
$3,300
18
COLE, MARGIE
1 transaction
$3,300

Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance

This bill has 3 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.

Rep. LaLota, Nick [R-NY-1]

ID: L000598

Top Contributors

0

No contribution data available

Rep. Mannion, John W. [D-NY-22]

ID: M001231

Top Contributors

22

1
POLITY GROUP LLC
OrganizationPORTLAND, OR
$2,500
Oct 28, 2024
2
LYNN D'ELIA TEMES & STANCZYK
OrganizationSYRACUSE, NY
$1,000
Mar 12, 2024
3
SLOME, IAN
SLOME CAPITAL LLC • INVESTOR
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$6,600
May 18, 2024
4
SPITZER, ELIOT
SELF-EMPLOYED • REAL ESTATE
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$6,600
May 1, 2024
5
CUTLER, RANDI
NOT EMPLOYED • NOT EMPLOYED
IndividualBOSTON, MA
$6,600
Jun 11, 2024
6
MCDOLE, MORGAN
CITY OF SYRACUSE • FIREFIGHTER
IndividualFAYETTEVILLE, NY
$6,600
Jun 20, 2024
7
ALBERTS, EDWARD
LITTLE LUKES • SELF-EMPLOYED
IndividualBALDWINSVILLE, NY
$6,600
Jul 13, 2023
8
STONE, JAMES M
PLYMOUTH ROCK COMPANY, INC. • EXECUTIVE
IndividualBOSTON, MA
$5,000
Oct 11, 2024
9
FAIVUS, HARRY E.
NOT EMPLOYED • RETIRED
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$5,000
Oct 25, 2024
10
BASCH, ELI B.
BASCH &KEEGAN LLP • ATTORNEY
IndividualKINGSTON, NY
$5,000
Oct 28, 2024

Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-24]

ID: T000478

Top Contributors

28

1
WINRED EARMARKS
PACARLINGTON, VA
$27,879
Oct 22, 2024
2
WINRED EARMARKS
PACARLINGTON, VA
$21,566
Oct 29, 2024
3
WINRED EARMARKS
PACARLINGTON, VA
$10,970
Nov 25, 2024
4
WINRED EARMARKS
PACARLINGTON, VA
$5,493
Nov 19, 2024
5
SAN MANUEL BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationLOS ANGELES, CA
$2,000
Nov 5, 2024
6
MORONGO BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationBANNING, CA
$2,000
Jun 18, 2024
7
SANTA YNEZ BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationSANTA YNEZ, CA
$2,000
Jun 18, 2024
8
MORONGO BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationBANNING, CA
$1,000
Mar 31, 2023
9
TEXTOR, DONALD
RETIRED • RETIRED
IndividualLOCUST VALLEY, NY
$13,200
Apr 17, 2024
10
WINE, SCOTT
POLARIS • CEO
IndividualEXCELSIOR, MN
$6,600
Sep 30, 2024

Donor Network - Rep. Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY-26]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

Loading...

Showing 38 nodes and 47 connections

Total contributions: $47

Top Donors - Rep. Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY-26]

Showing top 19 donors by contribution amount

1 Org18 Individuals

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.

Department of Homeland Security

Weak
Vector: 64%
Pages: 171-173AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill focuses on streamlining the NEXUS trusted traveler program for families, which is a facilitative measure for lawful travel and trade. While Project 2025 emphasizes border security, enforcement, and data transparency within CBP, it does not address trusted traveler program efficiencies or family-based processing improvements. The alignment is weak, as both relate to CBP operations but serve different objectives—one enhancing user experience, the other prioritizing enforcement and data di"

Key themes:U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)border securitylawful travel and trade

— 138 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise and localities, that would include certification that all components of that government, and not just the applicant agency, are registered with and use E-Verify. l If the applicant is a state or locality, commitment by that state or locality to total information-sharing in the context of both federal law enforcement and immigration enforcement. This would include access to department of motor vehicles and voter registration databases. Non-Use of Discretionary Guest Worker Visa Authorities. To stop facili- tating the availability of cheap foreign labor in order to support American workers (particularly poor and middle-class American workers) and follow congressional intent, the Secretary should explicitly cease using at least two discretionary author- ities as part of his or her broader effort to support American workers. l The Secretary should make it clear that he or she will not use the Secretary’s existing discretionary authority to increase the number of H-2B (seasonal non-agricultural) visas above the statutorily set cap. l The Secretary should not issue any regulations in support of the “H-2 eligible” country list, the effect of which would prevent favoring certain foreign nationals seeking an H-2 guest worker visa based simply on their nationality. Restoration of Honesty and Transparency. The Secretary should use his or her inherent authority as leader of the department to follow up with congressional and other partners to disclose information and provide the transparency that has been obstructed during the Biden Administration. The Secretary should proceed from the assumption that congressional inquiries and public information requests were unfulfilled and then seek to fulfill them. Replacement of the Entire Homeland Security Advisory Committee. The Secretary should plan to quickly remove all current members of the Homeland Security Advisory Committee and replace them as quickly as is feasible. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION (CBP) If all immigration agencies are not merged, including USCIS and ORR, then an appropriate third alternative would be to consolidate ICE and CBP to form a combined Border Security and Immigration Agency (BSIA). This would inte- grate critical interdiction, enforcement, and investigative resources, enhancing coordination and refocusing collective efforts on the vast and complex cross-bor- der threats impacting our nation’s health, safety, and national security. It would — 139 — Department of Homeland Security also simultaneously add efficiencies to our nation’s capacity to facilitate lawful trade and travel. The BSIA should establish clear mission requirements, responsibilities, and mandates under existing law regarding the persistent need for and utilization of U.S. military personnel and resources to assist BSIA with increasing whole-of-gov- ernment efforts and long-term strategy to secure our nation’s borders effectively. In addition, appropriate elements within the newly created BSIA should be desig- nated as part of the U.S. National Security and Intelligence Community. A conservative Administration should eliminate any prohibitive guidance, direction, or mandate from DHS or the Administration that curtails or limits CBP from publishing detailed border security and enforcement data not impacting intelligence, interdiction, and investigative operations, methods, or sources. DHS should issue a regulation mandating that CBP publish accurate and timely border security data, readily available to the public, on a regular basis that avoid White House and DHS leadership review and approval. The White House should grant the authority for CBP and DHS executives to utilize component aviation assets under the Office of Air and Marine (OAM). CBP and DHS have worldwide missions with personnel and facilities that are deployed across the globe and in every state in the U.S. With a CBP workforce alone of more than 60,000 people (240,000-plus for DHS) encompassing more than a thousand sea, land, and airports, it is essential that the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Secretary, and Deputy Secretary can travel efficiently to facilities to maintain appropriate situational awareness across the department’s vast mission set and interact with the expansive workforce. Although CBP operates one of the largest aviation components of any domestic U.S. law enforcement agency, executives are prohibited from utilizing the agency’s aviation assets to facilitate official travel. Executives are required to fly on commercial airlines, and this requirement sig- nificantly limits their ability to have classified communications and takes them offline for extended periods of time. Border Patrol (BP) and OAM should be combined within CBP. BP has more than 20,000 personnel, and OAM has approximately 1,800. OAM’s assets are dedicated in support of BP operations the vast majority of the time, yet redundant approv- als, strategies, and independent hierarchal commands serve as impediments to efficient and practical resource deployments. CBP should restart and expand use of the horseback-mounted Border Patrol. As part of this announcement, the Secretary should clear the records and personnel files of those who were falsely accused by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of whip- ping migrants and issue a formal apology on behalf of DHS and CBP. The Secretary should combine the Office of Trade (OT) and Trade Relations with the Office of Field Operations (OFO). The OT is the smallest of CBP’s compo- nents, and its operational counterpart, OFO, has a workforce of more than 30,000.

Department of Homeland Security

Weak
Vector: 62%
Pages: 180-182AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill focuses on streamlining the NEXUS trusted traveler program for family applications, which is unrelated to Project 2025's DHS objectives of tightening immigration enforcement, reforming asylum, and restructuring USCIS as a national security agency."

Key themes:Department of Homeland Securityborder securityimmigration processing

— 147 — Department of Homeland Security Personnel USCIS should be classified as a national security–sensitive agency, and all of its employees should be classified as holding national security–sensitive posi- tions. Leaks must be investigated and punished as they would be in a national security agency, and the union should be decertified. Any employees who cannot accept that change and cannot conform their behavior to the standards required by such an agency should be separated. USCIS’s D.C. personnel presence should be skeletal, and agency employees with operational or security roles should be rotated out to offices throughout the United States. These USCIS employees should live and work in the communities that are most affected by their daily duties and decisions. NECESSARY BORDER AND IMMIGRATION STATUTORY, REGULATORY, AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES The current border security crisis was made possible by glaring loopholes in our immigration system. The result was a preventable and predictable his- toric increase in illegal and inadmissible encounters along our southern border. This pulled limited resources from the front lines of our nation’s borders and away from their national security mission, releasing a vast and complex set of threats into our country. To regain our sovereignty, integrity, and security, Congress must pass meaningful legislation to close the current loopholes and prevent future Administrations from exploiting them for political gain or per- sonal ideology. Legislative Proposals l Title 42 authority in Title 8. Create an authority akin to the Title 42 Public Health authority that has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to expel illegal aliens across the border immediately when certain non- health conditions are met, such as loss of operational control of the border. l Mandatory appropriation for border wall system infrastructure. The monies appropriated would be used to fund the construction of additional border wall systems, technology, and personnel in strategic locations in accordance with the Border Security Improvement Plan (BSIP). l Appropriation for Port of Entry infrastructure. Border security is not addressed solely by systems in between the ports of entry. POEs require technology and physical upgrades as well as an influx of personnel to meet capacity demands and act as the literal gatekeepers for the country. This is the first line of defense against drug and human smuggling operations. — 148 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Unaccompanied minors 1. Congress should repeal Section 235 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA),9 which provides numerous immigration benefits to unaccompanied alien children and only encourages more parents to send their children across the border illegally and unaccompanied. These children too often become trafficking victims, which means that the TVPRA has failed. 2. If an alternative to repealing Section 235 of the TVPRA is necessary, the section should be amended so that all unaccompanied children, regardless of nationality, may be returned to their home countries in a safe and efficient manner. Currently, the TVPRA allows only children from contiguous countries (Canada and Mexico) to be returned while every other unaccompanied minor must be placed into a lengthy process that usually results in the minor’s landing in the custody of an illegal alien family member. 3. Congress must end the Flores Settlement Agreement by explicitly setting nationwide terms and standards for family and unaccompanied detention and housing. Such standards should focus on meeting human needs and should allow for large-scale use of temporary facilities (for example, tents). 4. Congress should amend the Homeland Security Act and portions of the TVPRA to move detention of alien children expressly from the Department of Health and Human Services to DHS. l Asylum reform 1. The standard for a credible fear of persecution should be raised and aligned to the standard for asylum. It should also account specifically for credibility determinations that are a key element of the asylum claim. 2. Codify former asylum bars and third-country transit rules. 3. Congress should eliminate the particular social group protected ground as vague and overbroad or, in the alternative, provide a clear definition with parameters that at a minimum codify the holding in Matter of A-B- that gang violence and domestic violence are not grounds for asylum.10

Department of Health and Human Services

Minimal
Vector: 63%
Pages: 512-514AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill focuses on streamlining the NEXUS trusted traveler program for family applications, which is unrelated to the Project 2025 policy objectives concerning child support, marriage promotion, and healthy relationship education under the Department of Health and Human Services."

Key themes:familyhousehold

— 479 — Department of Health and Human Services dads, and now as “disconnected” dads who do not commit to the mother and child. Child support in the United States should strengthen marriage as the norm, restore broken homes, and encourage unmarried couples to commit to marriage. Child Support Tax Credit. National or state guidelines and tax law should be updated to ensure that nonresident parents with child support orders can receive a nondependent, child support tax credit. Single filers of up to $41,756 and married or joint filers of up to $47,646 would be eligible for a child support tax credit similar to the current earned income tax credit. Filers could receive a maximum of $538 in annual returns for one child and a maximum of $3,584 in annual returns for two or more children (based on a credit rate of 34 percent). A child support tax credit would use the low-income, nonresident parents’ own earned income and history of employment to assist them further in the task of caring for their children. The key to this policy is that it empowers fathers with their own resources and money rather than creating another government assistance program (or a fully refundable credit) devoid of the father’s own monetary efforts. This way, the non- resident father’s role as financial provider and relational figure is affirmed, and much-needed financial resources are given to the children. Visitation. Visitation is key to revitalizing child support and increasing pay- ment frequency. The most effective way to lower a nonresident parent’s monthly child support order is to spend more court-accounted-for time with the child. For example, Texas combined its child support court with its visitation court to ensure that resident and nonresident parents received state-mandated financial support orders and enforceable visitation orders. Child Support Payment and Interactive Smartphone Application. Each state should be induced to implement a high-tech, easy-to-use application to cen- tralize child support payments. As with Venmo or Cash App, nonresident parents would link their bank accounts and provide one-click monthly payments (or con- tribute incrementally throughout the month while tracking how much is due). Additionally, the nonresident parents could track “informal” gifts from money, groceries, clothes, sports gear, and more through the app. This would address one of the main issues within current child support pay- ment systems: nonresident parents claim that they are spending much of their own money to provide for children outside of their monthly payments and resident parents’ claim that they spend little and neglect their official child support orders. Currently, only the latter claim can be tracked reliably. This process would enable nonresident parents to track the amount of informal support they provide and the reason for it while ensuring that the resident parent acknowledges and accepts the contribution. Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) Program. The HMRE program is part of the ACF Office of Family Assistance. The following pol- icies should be implemented. — 480 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Utilize HMRE funding or grants to provide state-level high school education resources and curriculum on healthy marriages, sexual risk avoidance, and healthy relationships. Early interventions and prevention are much more cost-effective than are efforts to reach people already in broken relationships. l Allow child welfare funding to be used for marriage and relationship education. Congress should adopt the following recommendation from a report issued by members of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee: Children are far more likely to experience abuse when they are raised outside of their married-parent family. Title II of the Child Abuse Preven- tion and Treatment Act provides grants to communities for the purpose of preventing child abuse and neglect, and one of the stated purposes for which the grants can be used is for efforts to increase family stability. However, Congress could change the law to make it clear that Title II funding can be used for healthy marriage and relationship education. Funding provided under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act—which provides grants to states for foster care and adoption services—can also be used for promoting healthy marriage. States should consider using some of their Title IV-B funding for providing healthy marriage and relationship education for families at risk of having their children placed in foster care.65 l Provide educational information on healthy marriage and relationships at Title X family planning clinics. HHS should require clinics it funds under Title X (family planning) to provide information to customers about the importance of marriage to family and personal well-being and refer them to available federal, state, and nonprofit marriage resources. l Ensure proper assessments with enough time to assess HMRE programs. Although some widely available assessments of HMRE programs report poor outcomes, many of these assessments either utilized a poor methodology or tried to measure program success prematurely. Recent assessments have shown increasing effectiveness and positive community- level marital outcomes.66 The HMRE program should receive a fair and realistic assessment. Additionally, the positive role of faith-based programs should be protected

Showing 3 of 5 policy matches

About These Correlations

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.

Full Policy Text

Related Bills