Political Quotes

“Members of the House, as much as any Member in this body, I appreciate the unique situation our Nation is in as we struggle to effectively combat terrorism, while adhering to our Nation's commitment to freedom and liberty. I fully recognize and appreciate that the bill before us today represents an effort to craft a more bipartisan response to recent terrorist incidents, particularly when compared to the seriously flawed refugee bill that this body voted on only several weeks ago. I commend the office for including many commonsense improvements to the Visa Waiver Program that will improve the system in a neutral and nondiscriminatory manner. However, I believe that provisions in the legislation restricting the use of the Visa Waiver Program to individuals who have traveled to Syria or Iraq or are dual nationals of these or other covered nations are discriminatory. I understand that these individuals are not banned from traveling to our Nation and are simply subject to increased questioning and scrutiny before they can travel here. However, history has shown us that arbitrary across-the-board judgments based on broad characteristics such as these do nothing to enhance our security and only cast a cloud of suspicion over entire communities here in our country. Equally problematic is the provision's overbreadth. It contains no exceptions for journalists, researchers, human rights investigators, or other professionals.…”