After an all-senators briefing by administration officials late Wednesday afternoon, Sen.
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Concern about the visa waiver program, on the other hand, has taken on a less partisan tone.
“I would tell you, from a threat standpoint, I’m probably more concerned with the visa waiver program today”, said Sen.
The first-term senator from Kentucky introduced a bill Monday that would require a 30-day waiting period for all travelers to the United States to allow time for U.S. authorities to conduct background checks. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) told CNN this week that “We need to temporarily suspend this visa waiver program”, because “it could just be a matter of hours, before someone travels through these different borders, someone who’s become a foreign fighter, who’s been fighting in Syria, and ends up here on the United States soil”.
Senate Democrats are pushing a legislative alternative to stopping the US plan to accept Syrian refugees, which would place restrictions on which Europeans receive visa waivers. But securing a traditional visa involves a more rigorous process, usually involving an in-person interview at an American consulate overseas. House Homeland Security Committee chairman Michael McCaul also called the waiver programme “vulnerable” and said he expected legislation to be introduced later this month that might address the issue.
The U.S. Travel Association urged lawmakers not to undermine the VWP, saying the program itself is a security tool.
Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the visa waiver program had always been a concern that was only heightened by the Paris attacks, but he was more focused on the vetting process for Syrian refugees – as many as 10,000 of whom are expexted to enter the country over the next year.
“That’s of much more concern, frankly, than refugee vetting”, Flake said after exiting a closed-door briefing with Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. “I think it’s kind of a practical problem as well as a philosophical or ideological problem”. “We urge Congress to thoroughly review the security and facilitation aspects of the program, as well as the effectiveness of new requirements, before rushing to legislate”. Mark S. Kirk, R-Ill.; Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md.; and others have championed an effort to expand the number of countries on the waiver list by adding Poland.
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The Visa Waiver program has undergone many reforms since 9/11 (this Congressional Research Service paper from 2014 gives a thorough overview), and it’s possible that the current bluster will lead to more helpful things, such as better information-sharing between participating governments about their terrorist watchlists. The terrorist attacks in Paris may have slowed down the momentum for Poland’s inclusion on a list that already includes most European countries, along with Australia, Chile, Japan and South Korea. Angus King, I-Maine, said.
