Melvin Watt: “let me just put this in perspective here. I am in favor of this amendment. The reason I am in favor of it is that the…”

“let me just put this in perspective here. I am in favor of this amendment. The reason I am in favor of it is that the whole notion of a visa refusal rate, if you understand that, means almost nothing, because if 100 people show up in an INS office and/or in a consular office, and two out of that 100 are refused a visa, then you have a 2 percent refusal rate. If three out of 100 are denied a visa, then you have a 3 percent refusal rate. If the consular officer in that office is sitting there, and they have a criterion that says, I do not like people who look poor, or I do not like people who look black, or I do not like people who look a particular way, then the refusal rate may be 98 percent. It could be 100 percent. The point I am making is that that is an irrational basis, a subjective basis, for setting up our whole Visa Waiver Program in the first place. So whether it is 2 percent or 3 percent, I cannot get all bent out of shape about it. This amendment would move it from 2 percent to 3 percent.”