The House passed H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act, which would stop Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the country unless certified by the heads of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence. Republicans unanimously voted for the bill and were joined by 47 Democrats, giving them a veto-proof majority of 289 "yes" votes.
The vote took place less than a week after the Paris terrorist attacks in which one of the terrorist was able to enter Europe by posing as a Syrian refugee. The Obama administration has said they want to increase the refugee limits from 70,000 to 85,000 next year then increase it to 100,000 by 2017.
"The streets of Paris could just as easily have been the streets of New York, Chicago, Houston or Los Angeles," Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, (R-Texas), who introduced the bill, said. "We must take decisive action to show the American people that we are doing all we can to protect them."
"If you read the bill what you find is that you have a pretty simple certification process sitting on top of an existing and extensive screening process that most of us believes works pretty well," Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who supported the bill, said.
Pres. Obama has said he would veto the bill because it would create delays for the refugees without providing effective additional security.
NumbersUSA will not grade today's vote since the measure does not affect the number of refugees entering the United States, but we did express our disappointment in the House's decision not to make a stronger response. We will continue to push Congress to insert Rep. Brian Babin's H.R.3314 that would pause the refugee resettlement program until its impacts on Americans can be evaluated into the upcoming spending bill.
Read more on this story at Politico.
