Obama Issues Veto Threat Against GOP Bill Over ‘Impractical Requirements’ for Refugees
President Obama issued a veto threat earlier tonight against legislation being pushed by the Republican House to strengthen the Syrian refugee screening process.
The legislation was proposed by Homeland Security Committee chair Michael McCaul, who said that Congress would have to receive certification from national security leaders that each and every refugee is not a threat before allowing them into the country.
Republicans just want to put a temporary halt to the refugee program in the wake of the Paris attack, and Speaker Paul Ryan today called this “common sense.” But tonight the White House let it be known they’re not going along with that.
They tout the screening process as plenty tough already and say the legislation would only “introduce unnecessary and impractical requirements that would unacceptably hamper our efforts to assist some of the most vulnerable people in the world.”
The White House goes into detail about what current screening entails and makes it clear Obama will reject it:
The certification requirement at the core of H.R. 4038 is untenable and would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people, instead serving only to create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives…
Given the lives at stake and the critical importance to our partners in the Middle East and Europe of American leadership in addressing the Syrian refugee crisis, if the President were presented with H.R. 4038, he would veto the bill.
[h/t Zeke Miller]
[image via screengrab]
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