Yvette Clarke: Policy Positions
Yvette Clarke's policy agenda centers on healthcare equity, technology and media policy, civil rights, immigration, and consumer and community protections. Her positions reflect a progressive Democratic outlook shaped by her Brooklyn district and her leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Healthcare
Clarke is a longtime advocate for expanding access to healthcare and reducing racial disparities in health outcomes. She co-chairs the Medicare for All Caucus and supports a right to universal health care. She has prioritized women's health, introducing legislation such as the Menopause Research Equity Act, the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Uterine Fibroid Research and Education Act, and the Uterine Cancer Study Act. She has cosponsored measures including the Women's Health Protection Act of 2025 and the Access to Birth Control Act, and she voted against Medicaid work requirements contained in Republican budget legislation.
Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Media
Clarke has become one of Congress's leading voices on technology and media policy. She introduced the DEEPFAKES Accountability Act to require watermarking of synthetic media and to criminalize the failure to identify malicious deepfakes, and the REAL Political Ads Act to increase transparency around AI-generated political advertising. She co-chairs the Smart Cities Caucus, arguing that smart technology can make communities more sustainable while ensuring communities of color are not left behind. She founded the Multicultural Media Caucus to address diversity and inclusion in the media, telecom, and technology industries. She has also warned repeatedly about the spread of mis- and disinformation across traditional and digital platforms.
Broadband and the Digital Divide
Clarke views internet access as essential infrastructure in a modern economy. She has been a driving force to preserve and expand the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides subsidized broadband to lower-income households, framing the effort as a way to bridge the digital divide.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity has been a defining focus of Clarke's career since her early chairmanship of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity. She has sponsored numerous cybersecurity-focused bills and has advocated for a more diverse federal cybersecurity workforce, including through the Cybersecurity Opportunity Act. She has framed the current information environment as poorly protected against nation-state attacks and AI-enabled manipulation.
Immigration
As the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Clarke is a consistent supporter of immigrant rights and comprehensive immigration reform. She has cosponsored versions of the DREAM Act and has opposed measures she views as targeting immigrant communities, including voting against legislation restricting noncitizen participation in District of Columbia matters and a resolution thanking Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has used her CBC platform to criticize enforcement actions she describes as harmful to immigrant and minority communities.
Civil Rights and Democracy
Clarke centers voting rights, criminal justice reform, and equity in her civil rights agenda. As CBC Chair she has identified voting rights, education, criminal justice reform, women's rights, healthcare equity, and economic equality as the caucus's priorities for the 119th Congress. She has characterized the caucus as the conscience of Congress and as a source of resistance to policy proposals associated with Project 2025.
Foreign Policy and the Caribbean
Clarke co-chairs the Congressional Caribbean Caucus and works to deepen relationships between the United States and the Caribbean Community. Her congressional record includes attention to Haiti and to broader questions of development and human rights affecting the Caribbean diaspora. She has cosponsored measures supporting humanitarian aid to Gaza.