Dianne Feinstein: “Today, 544 million people are eligible to travel into the U.S. without a visa as part of the Visa Waiver Program. If we…”

“Today, 544 million people are eligible to travel into the U.S. without a visa as part of the Visa Waiver Program. If we add these 'roadmap' countries to the program, we will add 162 million more people who can travel into the United States without a visa--a 30 percent increase. And if these 19 additional 'roadmap' countries can come into the program, what is to preclude any other country from coming into the program? How do we say 'no' to India, also a good ally, when its refusal rate--19.5 percent--is lower than 4 of the roadmap countries? The rejection rate for China--24.5 percent--is lower than those coming from Romania. Indonesia, at 35.1 percent just exceeds Romania. So this bill will likely set up some real conflicts and create additional problems. The administration has argued that the expansion of the visa waiver countries should be limited to our allies. But what does it mean to be an ally? According to this administration, when we invaded Iraq we counted Colombia with a 33.3 percent visa rejection rate, and Nicaragua, with a 48 percent rejection rate among our allies because they had provided some assistance in war. Do we, in Congress, really want to give the administration unfettered flexibility to allow nationals from any country to travel to the U.S. without a visa, simply because their governments have cooperated with ours? Does that mean that those nationals should be allowed to come to the United States with no advance screening?”