FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2015  

 

Hudson’s Bill Passes House with Veto-Proof Majority

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson’s (NC-08) bill, the American SAFE Act of 2015, passed the House with veto-proof majority, 289 – 137.

“The People’s House has spoken – Republicans and Democrats came together in a veto-proof majority to respond to the will of the American people and do our primary job to keep them safe,” said Rep. Hudson. “Today’s strong bipartisan vote doesn't say stop Syrian and Iraqi refugees and don’t ever let them in again. It says pause the program unless and until the top security officials in the United States are comfortable that we have a safe and reliable process and the American people can be assured that terrorists aren’t exploiting our country’s compassion by posing as refugees. I encourage our colleagues in the Senate to swiftly take up this common sense, reasonable bill to keep terrorists out and the American people safe.”

Rep. Hudson has appeared on Fox News (click here), Fox Business (click here and here), and MSNBC (click here) to discuss his legislation.

Click here to watch Rep. Hudson’s floor speech in support of this legislation or see the transcript below.

 

Transcript

“America is a compassionate country. We’re a good country. We have a long history of accepting refugees, people fleeing oppression and violence, but we also have an obligation to the American people.

As we welcome people into this country who are seeking asylum, we owe it to the American people to know who these people are. And when you've got a terrorist group like ISIS, who has said that they will exploit this refugee crisis to infiltrate America, this is an organization that has said their goal is to come to America and kill Americans. I take them at their word.

The number one responsibility of this body is to protect the American people. And it's not me saying that we have challenges with the current vetting process, it's experts from President Obama's administration.

I draw your attention to the first quote from Jeh Johnson, ‘It's true that we aren't going to know a lot about the Syrians that come forth in this process, that is definitely a challenge.’ That is the Secretary of Homeland Security.

I draw your attention to the next quote from Director James Comey of the F.B.I., ‘We can only query against that which we have collected and so if someone has not made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interests reflected in our databases, we can query our data until the cows come home, but nothing will show up because we have no record of that person.’ This is not me saying that, this is not Republicans saying that, this is President Obama's own administration saying that the current process is broken, that we are bringing in these refugees that we cannot properly vet.

So our legislation simply says, let's stop this flow unless and until the law enforcement experts that President Obama has appointed, the F.B.I. Director, the Secretary of Homeland Security can vouch for the fact that we have a process in place that they are comfortable with. How radical is that? This is common sense and that's why our polls show that as many as 75% of the American people support this measure.

Now I know the president has issued a veto threat, but I hope today in this house, we can come together Republicans and Democrats and respond to the will of the American people, do our primary job to keep them safe, that we can have a bipartisan vote that doesn't say no refugees, it doesn’t say stop Syrian refugees, it doesn’t say don’t ever let them in again.  It says pause the program unless and until the law enforcement experts are comfortable that we got a process. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.

 

Background

On Monday, Rep. Hudson introduced the American SAFE Act (H.R. 3999) a common sense, reasonable bill that would halt the administration’s plan to take in thousands of refugees from Iraq and Syria until it can assure no terrorists or individuals with radical sympathies or views will be admitted. Rep. Hudson’s strategy, as well as critical requirements from the legislation, was used as the foundation of H.R. 4038, which was introduced by Rep. Hudson and Chairman McCaul and passed the House today with a veto-proof majority.

 

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