Have any current members of Congress renounced foreign citizenship to serve, and why?

1. Lawmakers’ public renunciations are mentioned, not catalogued

News coverage highlights that Senator Bernie Moreno — who sponsors the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 — renounced his Colombian citizenship when he naturalized as a U.S. citizen and cites that as part of his rationale for the bill, but reporters do not provide a systematic accounting of other sitting Members who formally renounced foreign citizenship to serve in Congress ^{[1] [2]}.

2. The legislation framing the debate: Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025

Multiple outlets report Moreno’s bill would bar simultaneous U.S. and foreign citizenship, require existing dual citizens to choose within a year, and direct the State and Homeland Security Departments to track compliance — with noncompliance deemed relinquishment of U.S. citizenship ^{[1] [3] [5]}. Coverage notes practical and constitutional problems such as Afroyim v. Rusk , which limits Congress’s power to involuntarily strip citizenship ^{[6] [3]}.

3. Why lawmakers recount renunciations — politics and optics

Sponsors and supporters use personal renunciations to make a loyalty and symbolism argument: Moreno frames U.S. citizenship as an “honor and a privilege” that should be exclusive, and points to his own renunciation as a model ^{[1] [5]}. That is both legislative messaging and political theater aimed at voters anxious about foreign influence; reporters tie these claims to an “America First” posture in some GOP quarters ^{[4] [7]}.

4. Constitutional and logistical counterarguments reported by journalists and experts

Press outlets cite legal scholars and precedent arguing the bill faces significant constitutional and practical obstacles. The Supreme Court’s Afroyim ruling and CRS analysis are invoked to show courts have protected citizens from involuntary revocation absent a voluntary act; journalists and analysts also flag how foreign governments may not recognize U.S.-driven renunciations and how databases and enforcement would be unprecedented and complex ^{[6] [8] [1]}.

5. Who would be affected — real-world complications reporters emphasize

Coverage stresses the disproportionate impact on people who acquired foreign citizenship by birth or descent (sometimes never having asked for it), military families with children born abroad, and naturalized citizens who kept original nationality by operation of foreign law — all of whom could face difficult choices, tax consequences, or practical impossibilities in completing renunciations ^{[9] [1] [4]}.

6. Alternative proposals and the broader push in Congress

The reporting shows Moreno’s bill is part of a broader push: other Republican proposals would require disclosure of foreign citizenship for candidates or bar dual citizens from Congress (Rep. Randy Fine has proposed related restrictions), reflecting a factional debate in the GOP about dual loyalty and disclosure — but again, the articles do not list members who have renounced foreign citizenship to qualify for office ^{[7] [10]}.

7. What reporting does not show — key gaps to note

No source in the provided set gives a verified, current roster of Members of Congress who renounced foreign citizenship specifically to serve, nor independent confirmation of how many sitting lawmakers hold dual nationality today; those facts are not found in current reporting and would require disclosure or investigative work beyond these articles (available sources do not mention a current-member list) ^{[2] [3]}.

8. Bottom line for readers

The debate is dominated by a new bill and its sponsor’s personal renunciation as political proof, while journalists and legal analysts warn of constitutional limits and severe practical consequences; but concrete data about which members have formally renounced foreign citizenship to take office is absent from the cited coverage, leaving that empirical question unresolved by the available reporting ^{[1] [6] [3]}.