House Republicans are outlining legislation aimed at increasing screenings for Syrian and Iraqi refugees before they enter the United States, including a requirement for Federal Bureau of Investigation background checks.
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“Let us as legislators rise above petty politics, rise above sectarian fears… the underlying layer of xenophobia”, Gutierrez said on the House floor.
Congress writes laws. The president does not write laws, Mr. Ryan said. This is Americans. This is our national security.
The speaker had no details on what goals this task force might have set for itself, but insisted that there has to be a better plan to address national security issues.
Several members of Congress have been raising the alarm about Obama’s refugee program, saying that it endangers the country.
Republican Senator Jeff Sessions warned about this at a hearing on October 2.
“We’re talking to the White House, we’ll see what they’re open to”, McConnell said. “Anyone claiming to have a serious and honest discussion of refugee resettlement must ask the hard questions about integration, assimilation and community safety”.
Texas Republican Rep. Brian Babin drafted a letter signed by 56 other House GOP members urging Ryan to include language in that bill to block all taxpayer money for the program that would allow any refugees from Syria, the Middle East and North Africa until a series of conditions are met, including sign off from national security agencies. “The Democrats agree with us here in Congress”. “But instead of blaming people or assuming people are bigots, come out and explain what the vetting process is and I think people will feel more comfortable”.
While many Democrats mocked the House effort as election-season grandstanding, political pressures were pushing others to support the measure or seek to change other entry procedures. “What would help, and I think this was a universal message in the meeting we just had – on both sides of the aisle, I might add – is that someone needs to explain clearly to the American people the processes we go through before we admit refugees”.
“First of all, I don’t think that a religious test is appropriate”, Ryan said.
Boehner’s last deal – to get a budget package done before he left the Speakership – was one example of compromise that didn’t get a majority of Republican votes within the House of Representatives, and passed because of the votes of Democrats. But when asked whether the president’s program should be paused, Reid said Democrats would announce their strategy today. Republicans know they have a problem with the vetting process, but they have no idea why.
Ryan’s office did not respond to the letter from Babin, but noted it is focused on moving a bill they believe is reasonable and strikes an important balance to pause the program, but not cancel it outright. Thus far the numbers of Syrian refugees admitted to the USA from their war-torn homeland have been extremely limited and they are vetted in a lengthy process.
If they include those kinds of provisions in the appropriations bills theyre going to find that theyre not actually going to pass, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said earlier this month. A few want to use that bill to cut off funding for the refugee program – foreshadowing another potential government shutdown fight.
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“Until we can sort out the bad guys we must not be foolish”, Republican front-runner Ben Carson said in a news conference in Nevada, according to CNN.
