On the recordNovember 19, 2015
As it is the proud American tradition, we can both ensure the security of our country and welcome desperate women, children, and seniors who are facing ISIS' brutality. As my colleague who spoke before me just said, our hearts go out to the refugees, but our hand of friendship does not. And it could. We could do this in a bipartisan way. If we betray our values as a country and slam the door in the faces of those innocent victims of terror, we do not strengthen our security. We weaken ourselves in the fight against ISIS' savage ideology. As the Refugee Council USA and its coalition wrote to Congress--and this is very important--``it would send a demoralizing and dangerous message to the world that the United States makes judgments about people based on the country they come from and their religion. This feeds into extremist propaganda and makes us all less safe.'' I talked about the French to begin with. It was interesting to me to hear President Hollande as he spoke to thousands of people in the wake of the tragedy. What he said in some of his remarks at various venues was that France would be welcoming 30,000 refugees from Syria in the period ahead. With all that they have suffered, with the immediacy of the tragedy, with the emotion of the moment, they are still doing the right thing. The Republican bill before us does not make us safer, and it does not reflect our values. It does not have my support.
