Political Quotes

“Madam President, the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013 reaffirms the strong relationship the United States has with Israel. As the legislation states, our countries share a deep and unbreakable bond, forged by over 60 years of shared interests and shared values. S. 462 includes provisions that will enhance cooperation between our countries in the areas of energy, defense, homeland security, and agriculture. While I support the end goal of the bill, I do have reservations about a section dealing with the visa waiver program. The visa waiver program was created by Congress but is largely overseen and maintained by the executive branch. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may designate any country as a participant if certain qualifications are met. Congress laid out the criteria, which include low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate; machine readable passport program; law enforcement and security interests; reporting lost and stolen passports; repatriation of aliens; and passenger information exchange. Once a country meets these requirements, the Secretary of Homeland Security allows the country to participate in the visa waiver program. Yet, S. 462 would amend the statute and allow Israel in the program even if all the criteria are not met. Specifically, under the legislation, Israel would not have to abide by the low nonimmigrant visa refusal rate.…”