Monday, November 16, 2015 5:42:34 PM
House Republicans Seek to Cut Off Funding for Syrian Resettlement Program
By John Hudson November 16, 2015 - 4:41 pm
House Republicans Seek to Cut Off Funding for Syrian Resettlement Program
Following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, House Republicans are proposing to block federal funding for resettling Syrian refugees until a series of new conditions are met, Foreign Policy has learned.
The growing momentum behind new legislation, still being drafted, sets up a future clash between the White House and Congress as the Obama administration seeks to offer residency to 10,000 Syrian refugees who currently live outside the conflict zone. Currently, 60 million people worldwide have been forced from their homes or are otherwise considered refugees — higher than at any other time in recorded history .. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/world/europe/a-mass-migration-crisis-and-it-may-yet-get-worse.html?_r=0 . An estimated six million to eight million displaced people are still in Syria, and more than four million Syrian refugees are in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon.
The draft legislation, a copy of which was obtained by FP, is backed by Reps. Brian Babin, Lou Barletta, Diane Black, Mo Brooks, and 11 other lawmakers. It would prevent funding for the resettlement of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa until authorities adopt “processes to ensure that refugee and related programs are not able to be co-opted by would-be terrorists.” Once those processes are in place, details of the security checks must be given to Congress in both classified and public forums, and the administration must establish a “longer-term monitoring process” to track refugees in the U.S.
The 15 Republican lawmakers pushing the legislation aren’t the only politicians looking to slam the brakes on Obama’s resettlement program. The governors of 15 U.S. states have already said .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/16/here-are-the-nine-u-s-states-saying-no-to-syrian-refugees/ .. they would not allow Syrian refugees to live in their states. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R) has also said .. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/16/exclusive-rand-paul-supports-states-not-taking-syrian-refugees-issues-legislation-senate-halt-refugee-resettlement/ .. he will introduce legislation to prevent Syrian refugees from obtaining U.S. visas.
Additionally, House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul plans to raise the issue of blocking Syrian refugee resettlement at a Tuesday meeting with fellow Republicans, according to two congressional sources.
In a Monday letter to President Barack Obama, McCaul called on the White House to immediately “suspend” the admission of all additional Syrian refugees.
“The high-threat environment demands that we move forward with greater caution in order to protect the American people and to prevent terrorists from reaching our shores,” McCaul wrote.
The rising opposition to assisting Syrian refugees is already alarming humanitarian organizations, which say that doing so defies America’s long tradition of helping individuals fleeing persecution.
“It would be nothing short of reprehensible if Congress cut off funding for the Syrian refugee resettlement program,” Noah Gottschalk, a senior policy adviser at Oxfam, told FP. “The resettlement program for Syrian refugees is incredibly thorough — the layers of screening that are already in place are more than sufficient to ensure we do our duty while keeping the nation safe.”
“It is unfathomable that we would turn our backs now as people face their greatest hour of need,” Gottschalk said.
A senior Obama administration official, speaking to FP on condition of anonymity, said security concerns about incoming refugees were unfounded — in large part because they undergo “the highest level” of scrutiny by intelligence and security government agencies.
“All refugees, including Syrians, are admitted only after successful completion of this stringent security screening regime,” the official said.
Fears about taking in refugees spiked after a Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the assailants in the deadly Paris attacks that killed at least 129 people. Questions remain, however, over the identity of the attacker: French officials on Monday said he used a fake Syrian passport .. http://www.wsj.com/articles/paris-stadium-attacker-entered-europe-via-greece-1447698583 .. to travel to Europe through Greece and the Balkans. While his actual identity is unknown, the attacker is believed to have posed as a Syrian refugee to enter Europe through the Aegean Sea.
Getty Images
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/16/house-republicans-seek-to-cut-off-funding-for-syrian-resettlement-program/
How many of them don't travel in cars because there are whackos on the road. Not to mention homegrown terrorism for being a umm great reason for staying indoors.
Watch Obama Tear Into GOP Candidates Who Only Want To Take In Christian Refugees From Syria
by Kira Lerner Nov 16, 2015 12:07pm
President Obama called out Republican presidential candidates who have said the United States should admit Christians but bar Muslim refugees from Syria from entering the country, saying that Americans “don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”
“When I hear folks say that: ‘Well, maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims,’ when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who’s fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful,” Obama said on Monday during remarks at the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey. “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”
He pointed to Pope Francis’ speech to Congress when the Catholic leader “didn’t just speak about Christians who were being prosecuted” but said we need to protect all people who are vulnerable.
“It is very important for us right now, particularly those who are in leadership, particularly those who have a platform and can be heard, not to fall into that trap, not to feed that dark impulse inside of us,” Obama continued. “I had a lot of disagreements with George W. Bush on policy, but I was very proud after 9/11 when he was adamant and clear about the fact that this is not a war on Islam. The notion that some of those who have taken on leadership in his party would ignore all of that, that’s not who we are.”
After telling Republicans to follow Bush’s example, he continued, “Whether you are European or American, you know the values that we are defending — the values we’re fighting against ISIL for — are precisely that we don’t discriminate against people because of their faith. We don’t kill people because they’re different than us. That’s what separates us from them.”
CREDIT: AP Photo/Dylan Petrohilos
Although he didn’t call them out by name, Obama was clearly responding to comments by GOP presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz, both of whom have said the United States should screen refugees by religion. Cruz said in South Carolina Sunday that “there is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror” and repeated his position that it is “lunacy” to allow Muslim refugees to live in the United States.
Bush similarly said Sunday that religion should be a determinant of which refugees can escape their violent, conflict-torn home country.
“We should focus our efforts as it relates to refugees on the Christians that are being slaughtered,” Bush told CNN’s State of the Union.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/11/16/3722550/obama-muslim-refugees/
By John Hudson November 16, 2015 - 4:41 pm
House Republicans Seek to Cut Off Funding for Syrian Resettlement Program
Following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, House Republicans are proposing to block federal funding for resettling Syrian refugees until a series of new conditions are met, Foreign Policy has learned.
The growing momentum behind new legislation, still being drafted, sets up a future clash between the White House and Congress as the Obama administration seeks to offer residency to 10,000 Syrian refugees who currently live outside the conflict zone. Currently, 60 million people worldwide have been forced from their homes or are otherwise considered refugees — higher than at any other time in recorded history .. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/world/europe/a-mass-migration-crisis-and-it-may-yet-get-worse.html?_r=0 . An estimated six million to eight million displaced people are still in Syria, and more than four million Syrian refugees are in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon.
The draft legislation, a copy of which was obtained by FP, is backed by Reps. Brian Babin, Lou Barletta, Diane Black, Mo Brooks, and 11 other lawmakers. It would prevent funding for the resettlement of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa until authorities adopt “processes to ensure that refugee and related programs are not able to be co-opted by would-be terrorists.” Once those processes are in place, details of the security checks must be given to Congress in both classified and public forums, and the administration must establish a “longer-term monitoring process” to track refugees in the U.S.
The 15 Republican lawmakers pushing the legislation aren’t the only politicians looking to slam the brakes on Obama’s resettlement program. The governors of 15 U.S. states have already said .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/16/here-are-the-nine-u-s-states-saying-no-to-syrian-refugees/ .. they would not allow Syrian refugees to live in their states. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R) has also said .. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/16/exclusive-rand-paul-supports-states-not-taking-syrian-refugees-issues-legislation-senate-halt-refugee-resettlement/ .. he will introduce legislation to prevent Syrian refugees from obtaining U.S. visas.
Additionally, House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul plans to raise the issue of blocking Syrian refugee resettlement at a Tuesday meeting with fellow Republicans, according to two congressional sources.
In a Monday letter to President Barack Obama, McCaul called on the White House to immediately “suspend” the admission of all additional Syrian refugees.
“The high-threat environment demands that we move forward with greater caution in order to protect the American people and to prevent terrorists from reaching our shores,” McCaul wrote.
The rising opposition to assisting Syrian refugees is already alarming humanitarian organizations, which say that doing so defies America’s long tradition of helping individuals fleeing persecution.
“It would be nothing short of reprehensible if Congress cut off funding for the Syrian refugee resettlement program,” Noah Gottschalk, a senior policy adviser at Oxfam, told FP. “The resettlement program for Syrian refugees is incredibly thorough — the layers of screening that are already in place are more than sufficient to ensure we do our duty while keeping the nation safe.”
“It is unfathomable that we would turn our backs now as people face their greatest hour of need,” Gottschalk said.
A senior Obama administration official, speaking to FP on condition of anonymity, said security concerns about incoming refugees were unfounded — in large part because they undergo “the highest level” of scrutiny by intelligence and security government agencies.
“All refugees, including Syrians, are admitted only after successful completion of this stringent security screening regime,” the official said.
Fears about taking in refugees spiked after a Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the assailants in the deadly Paris attacks that killed at least 129 people. Questions remain, however, over the identity of the attacker: French officials on Monday said he used a fake Syrian passport .. http://www.wsj.com/articles/paris-stadium-attacker-entered-europe-via-greece-1447698583 .. to travel to Europe through Greece and the Balkans. While his actual identity is unknown, the attacker is believed to have posed as a Syrian refugee to enter Europe through the Aegean Sea.
Getty Images
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/16/house-republicans-seek-to-cut-off-funding-for-syrian-resettlement-program/
How many of them don't travel in cars because there are whackos on the road. Not to mention homegrown terrorism for being a umm great reason for staying indoors.
Watch Obama Tear Into GOP Candidates Who Only Want To Take In Christian Refugees From Syria
by Kira Lerner Nov 16, 2015 12:07pm
President Obama called out Republican presidential candidates who have said the United States should admit Christians but bar Muslim refugees from Syria from entering the country, saying that Americans “don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”
“When I hear folks say that: ‘Well, maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims,’ when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who’s fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful,” Obama said on Monday during remarks at the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey. “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”
He pointed to Pope Francis’ speech to Congress when the Catholic leader “didn’t just speak about Christians who were being prosecuted” but said we need to protect all people who are vulnerable.
“It is very important for us right now, particularly those who are in leadership, particularly those who have a platform and can be heard, not to fall into that trap, not to feed that dark impulse inside of us,” Obama continued. “I had a lot of disagreements with George W. Bush on policy, but I was very proud after 9/11 when he was adamant and clear about the fact that this is not a war on Islam. The notion that some of those who have taken on leadership in his party would ignore all of that, that’s not who we are.”
After telling Republicans to follow Bush’s example, he continued, “Whether you are European or American, you know the values that we are defending — the values we’re fighting against ISIL for — are precisely that we don’t discriminate against people because of their faith. We don’t kill people because they’re different than us. That’s what separates us from them.”
CREDIT: AP Photo/Dylan Petrohilos
Although he didn’t call them out by name, Obama was clearly responding to comments by GOP presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz, both of whom have said the United States should screen refugees by religion. Cruz said in South Carolina Sunday that “there is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror” and repeated his position that it is “lunacy” to allow Muslim refugees to live in the United States.
Bush similarly said Sunday that religion should be a determinant of which refugees can escape their violent, conflict-torn home country.
“We should focus our efforts as it relates to refugees on the Christians that are being slaughtered,” Bush told CNN’s State of the Union.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/11/16/3722550/obama-muslim-refugees/
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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