Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise in support of this amendment. I think it is important that we pass it, and I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle support it. As we all know, as a result of the rushed and chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan, people were left behind, including some American citizens and a lot of Afghans who had helped us. But because of the chaos, we also evacuated many Afghans who have no record of assisting us or our allies. In fact, we were told by the administration that the majority of the evacuees in the United States, called parolees, are neither U.S. citizens, green card holders, or SIV applicants who had helped us. This is a commonsense amendment to simply make sure those parolees are properly vetted like any other group of parolees or refugees would be. Part of that vetting, of course, comes from individuals applying for what is known as the REAL ID, a system designed to make identity documents more consistent and secure. Remember, the REAL ID law came out of the 9/11 Commission. It was a key recommendation of that Commission. We supported it here. Our amendment does not stop Afghan parolees from getting driver's licenses or qualifying for REAL ID cards after appropriate screening. It simply requires the Afghan parolees to follow the same processes that other parolees must follow in order to be eligible. Unfortunately, the CR before us makes an exception to that normal, commonsense security process. The PRESIDING OFFICER.…”