H.R. 4038 is a bill that accomplishes absolutely nothing to improve the security of the United States.
The bill purports to create security measures to prevent refugees from Iraq and Syria from easily entering the United States. It actually will not do so, if it is passed into law. Here’s why:
1. There is already an extremely rigorous process of security screening for refugees. Only 2,714 Syrian refugees have been allowed into the United States over the last 14 years – not the 10,000 that Republicans complain about.
2. Refugees from Iraq and Syria are victims of terrorists. There isn’t any concrete evidence that Syrian and Iraqi refugees are more likely than anyone else to launch a terrorist attack here in the United States, given that zero Syrian or Iraqi refugees have participated in terrorist attacks here in the United States in the 14 years since 2001.
Yet, H.R. 4038, called the American SAFE Act even though it was passed in reaction to a medium-scale terrorist attack in France, thousands of miles away from the United States, passed the U.S. House of Representatives with the votes of 242 Republicans with the help of the following Democrats:
Peter Aguilar, Brad Ashford, Ami Bera, Sanford Bishop, Julia Brownley, Cheri Bustos, John Carney, Gerald Connolly, Jim Cooper, Jim Costa, Joe Courtney, Henry Cuellar, John Delaney, Lloyd Doggett, Tulsi Gabbard, John Garamendi, Gwen Graham, Gene Green, Janice Hahn, Jim Himes, Steve Israel, Marcy Kaptur, Bill Keating, Ron Kind, Ann Kuster, Jim Langevin, Dan Lipinski, Dave Loebsack, Steve Lynch, Sean Maloney, Patrick Murphy, Rick Nolan, Donald Norcross, Scott Peters, Collin Peterson, Jared Polis, Kathleen Rice, Raul Ruiz, Tim Ryan, Kurt Schrader, David Scott, Terri Sewell, Kyrsten Sinema, Louise Slaughter, Marc Veasey, Filemon Vela, Tim Walz
This bill won’t help anyone, anywhere. It will only slow down assistance to the victims of the Islamic State by increasing bureaucratic hurdles without any increase in substantive security reviews. Right wing politicians promoted this bill as an easy way for them to exploit Americans’ fears after the Paris terrorist attacks… and the Democrats you see listed above went along with this cynical maneuver.
Take note, Democratic voters. These politicians do not deserve your votes. They do not deserve a minute of your time as a volunteer. They do not deserve a single penny of your money.
They have surrendered to the Republican agenda of fear. They are participating in the politics of Donald Trump.