The bill would require the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security officials to “certify” refugees are not a danger to the United States.
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Politico reported before the vote, “Sources said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) pushed back saying the issue was “toxic” – even if Democrats opposed the Republican bill on policy grounds – because of the complicated messaging surrounding the national security issue”.
“It is against the values of our nation and the values of a free society to give terrorists the opening they are looking for”, said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Republicans are exploiting the terrorist attack in Paris for political gain, and shamefully _ of Democrats went along with them.
The discovery that one of the Paris attackers posed as a refugee and entered Europe on a – likely fake – Syrian passport, focused the backlash on the hundreds of thousands of Syrians seeking asylum from the violence in Europe and the U.S. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Despite its passage, the bill on Thursday lacked enough votes to override a presidential veto.
President Obama threatened to veto the legislation, but it passed by a veto-proof margin.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid doesn’t plan to let that happen.
Lawmakers said they simply didn’t believe arguments that the bill would take the vetting process from tough to impossible, but that personnel and funds could solve the problem. “I don’t think there’s any speaker in the country that has a record of trying to promote transparency as much as this man”. The letter said that Congress should shorten the authorization period of the bill in order spend more money annually on transportation projects.
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Congress’ “feel-good” bill the House passed Thursday to tighten Syrian refugee screening is “weak” and an effort to stop members from defunding the program, one of the two Republicans that voted against the measure told a local radio show. “And I think that my leadership is complicit in that”.
