On the recordNovember 19, 2015
We want to vote for a bill to reflect the angst of our constituents. If you read this bill, you can't vote for it. It forces our three security leaders--the Director of the FBI, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Secretary of Homeland Security--to personally review, vote on, and certify each and every individual refugee file. We admitted 187 Syrian refugees last month. If our security leaders just spend 2 hours on each file, it will consume all of their working hours. ISIS cannot simultaneously and permanently incapacitate our security leaders. This bill does. Now, some will say that our security leaders just won't look at any of the files, that this is an underhanded way for Congress to halt all refugees without taking responsibility, but our security leaders are human. They are going to look at the picture of Aylan Kurdi--that 3- year-old boy on the Turkish beach--and our security leaders will know that if they just invest a couple of hours in personally reviewing a file, they can save a human life. If they just spend another 2 hours, they can save another human life. Our security leaders will be full- time refugee evaluators. This bill is not a pause bill. This is a permanent bill which permanently incapacitates our security agencies. Read the bill. Vote ``no.''
