Posted on 11/19/2015 11:47:35 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"[But] when people said, 'Well, can't we work that out administratively by adding resources, delegating certification, maybe even collapsing all of this into a more expedited, accelerated process across the board?' The answer wasn't, 'Well, no, statutorily we wouldn't be able to do that.' The answer was, 'We don't have the staff.'
"That's just a matter of mechanics, it's not a matter of principle or statute," [Rep. Gerry] Connolly [D-VA] said. "And that's not a good enough reason for me to vote no. And I think a lot of the other Democrats felt the same way."
The Obama administration's eleventh-hour bid to rally Democrats against Syrian refugee legislation backfired on Thursday, according to several lawmakers and aides.
A number of Democrats who were on the fence about the bill decided to vote yes after hearing administration officials make the case against it.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said he was leaning against the Republicans' legislation heading into Thursday's pre-vote huddle with Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Homeland Security Department (DHS), and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.
By the end of the meeting, he'd decided to support it.
"I walked in there generally a no - probably a no - and I left a decided yes. And I'm not alone," Connolly said after the legislation passed on the House floor with help from almost 50 Democrats.
"It didn't persuade. It had the opposite effect - for a number of us."
Another Democratic lawmaker who backed the bill said that, even as Johnson and McDonough were making their pitch, supporters were picking up votes.
"A lot of them," the lawmaker texted to The Hill from inside the meeting.
The administration has long struggled in its relations with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with even Obama's staunchest Democratic allies often grumbling about the president's communications and outreach efforts.
Those criticisms have resurfaced amid the debate over the Republicans' bill to toughen the screening process for refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Iraq.
Rushed to the floor following last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, the legislation requires the heads of the FBI, DHS and national intelligence agency to certify each refugee as non-threatening before allowing them into the U.S.
The administration has vowed to veto the bill, arguing that it installs barriers too high to make the refugee program workable. The current process, officials say, is plenty tough.
Most Democrats agree - and even lawmakers who voted for the GOP bill quietly said the current screening process is an arduous one. But many Democrats have also expressed frustrations with what they consider the administration's failure to articulate that message - to Congress and the public alike.
Johnson and McDonough visited the Capitol Thursday morning in an effort to address those concerns. While the fate of the bill was never in question in the GOP-controlled House, the administration hoped to minimize the Democratic defections and ensure the promised veto could be upheld.
"We had a great meeting," McDonough said as he left the room.
Democrats, apparently, saw things differently.
The refugee measure passed 289 to 137, with 47 Democrats joining all but two Republicans in support. Given the total vote count - 426, with eight lawmakers absent - the 289 votes would have been sufficient to override a presidential veto.
And Connolly suggested the number of Democrats could have been higher.
"There were others prepared to vote for it," he said.
Many Democrats said they were simply left unconvinced by the argument from Johnson and McDonough.
"I've seen better presentations in my time," Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), the head of the Democrats' messaging arm who voted for the GOP bill, said leaving the meeting.
An aide in the room would likely not have been surprised by Israel's assessment.
"[It's] not going over well," the aide said in an email. "[Their] message on this is too complicated."
Yet another Democratic aide described the meeting as "a total disaster" that shifted Democrats behind the bill.
Leaving Thursday's gathering, Johnson appeared frustrated that his message wasn't resonating, even with many Democratic allies.
"All I can do is keep repeating what I've been saying all week," Johnson said. "Sometimes you have to say something 10 times before somebody will notice."
Connolly was quick to concede that the current background check system is "already very robust." But following the Paris attack, he argued, many felt Congress needed to act. And the administration's argument was simply not enough to convince him the extra security layers would cripple the refugee program.
"They are concerned that the ... consequence of this is to simply add to the difficulty and timeline of status approval. So what's already an 18 - to 24-month process could become twice that," Connolly said. "And obviously... no one wants that as an outcome."
"[But] when people said, 'Well, can't we work that out administratively by adding resources, delegating certification, maybe even collapsing all of this into a more expedited, accelerated process across the board?' The answer wasn't, 'Well, no, statutorily we wouldn't be able to do that.' The answer was, 'We don't have the staff.'
"That's just a matter of mechanics, it's not a matter of principle or statute," Connolly said. "And that's not a good enough reason for me to vote no. And I think a lot of the other Democrats felt the same way."
.....”It’s just inappropriate for America of all countries in the world to panic and to somehow turn our backs on our fundamental values.”
[Sec of State John] Kerry’s comments came hours after a sweeping vote in the House to rebuke President Obama and temporarily pause the Obama administration’s plans to allow 10,000 refugees into the country over the next year. Forty-seven Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the legislation....
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/260778-senate-dems-vow-to-block-refugee-bill
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) says a House bill suspending the resettlement of Syrian refugees, slated for action Thursday, will not make it to President Obama’s desk.
Reid said at a press conference that Democrats will block the legislation that requires the secretary of Homeland Security to affirm to Congress that every refugee being admitted is not a security threat.
Senate Democrats are pushing alternative legislation, to be unveiled after Thanksgiving, that would tighten up security gaps in the visa waiver program.
“The problem is not with refugees,” Reid said. “I don’t think we’ll be dealing with it over here.”
When asked about the prospect of Obama vetoing the legislation, Reid said, “Don’t worry, it won’t get passed. Next question?”..........
Well, we know now who really controls the senate.
Even if the bill did make it through the senate, the dictator would veto it, and the spineless wimps in both houses of congress will whimper like beaten dogs.
Don’t be so quick to assume that.
http://spectator.org/blog/64724/lefts-obsession-denying-radical-islam-tying-conservatives-racists
Over at The New Republic, Brian Beutler has written an article about what he alleges is the Republican obsession with radical Islam.
It’s about one would expect from left-wing thinking on the subject. Beutler writes, “Democratic unease with this language is almost entirely a function of strategic, rather than empathic, thinking-a reflection of the greater seriousness with which the party treats national security and foreign affairs than Republicans.”
The Democratic Party has treated national security and foreign affairs with the seriousness which has left us with the Iran nuclear deal, red lines in Syria which were unceremoniously erased, a Secretary of State who just uttered there was a rationale and a legitimacy to the Charlie Hebdo murders and a President who declared that ISIS had been contained. Did Beutler actually write that sentence with a straight face?........
http://www.dailywire.com/news/1191/exclusive-dsouza-obama-believes-islam-preferable-ben-shapiro
...............The Obama-Clinton gangster mentality is forwarded by the use of Saul Alinsky’s tactics from inside the government, D’Souza averred. “Obama and Hillary have figured out inside intimidation. You get into the government; now you ally with inside and outside groups, groups like Black Lives Matter or a student activist group or ACORN. You ally with them but you also deploy the agencies of government from the inside to back them up, so the DOJ or the FEC or the SEC or the IRS or the EPA. This is a terrifying escalation of power. I don’t think Alinsky would have believed it. They know that power wielded from the inside is more powerful than power wielded from the outside.”
So, how can Republicans defeat this sort of gangsterism? [Dinesh] D’Souza says Republicans have to stop being cowed by the alliance of “progressive politicians and powerful forces in academia, in the media and in Hollywood...We’re spending way too much time debating Obama, trying to educate Obama, trying to argue with Obama. He’s not interested in hearing from us or listening to us. He has a view, he’s going to try to put his view into action. It’s like trying to argue with Alinsky when he’s deploying a shakedown techniqus....All we have to ask is what are effective ways to stop him. Congress has the power to make laws and the power of the purse. Those are the most powerful things to have, but you’d never know it. You’d think that Obama is more powerful than the entire US Congress. I think that’s because they aren’t exercising their real power. Republicans need to stop talking and need to start doing things.”
Jeh Johnson’s snippy and sarcastic remarks did not help sell his Syrian plans. I’m starting to wonder if Jeh is ready to leave his position already. He certainly does not have John Kerry’s skill set of diplomacy, artificial though that diplomacy may actually be.
The article references, but never articulates, what the Administration’s argument was. And what could it be? We’re going to query Syria’s databases to see whether Muhammed or Achmed are terrorist sympathizers? As if there were any Syrian databases of that type.
And it’s treasonous to import people with a standing declaration of war into you nation!
"Abdelhamid Abaaoud - and others involved in the Paris attacks - exploited the chaos of Europe's migrant crisis to come and go as they pleased by posing as refugees"
“........Intelligence failures appear to have allowed Abaaoud to act with impunity. He had travelled to Syria in 2013, then returned to Belgium via Greece. He was able to leave Belgium undetected and return to Syria, a round trip he made several other times, he says.
He was related to Ibrahim Abdeslam, one of the suicide bombers in Friday’s attack, and in 2010 spent time in jail with Abdeslam’s brother Salah, currently Europe’s most wanted man after going on the run after the attacks. They were childhood friends, having grown up in the same Molenbeek district of Brussels as several of the other suspects. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11997410/Paris-attackers-linked-to-Belgian-suburb-where-the-authorities-have-lost-control.html
Abaaoud’s family had previously been told that he was dead, but it appears to have been an Isil ruse to throw police off his scent.......”
I wish it weren’t so, but congress is not known for being ballsy. Except for a handful of patriots in both houses, the Republicans are little more than lapdogs to this administration.
"..........The US embassy in Bamako has urged embassy staff to seek cover from the attack, tweeting that all Americans in Mali should 'shelter in place'.........
Which 2 Republicans voted against the Bill?
Thanks!
Democrats are Law-Less because Republican "leaders" are Ball-Less!!
Get a SPINE, MITCH!
Obama and Hillary want MORE Democrats to VOTE!!
The US, along with most other nations that have had insane tolerance for new residents need to take a breather. If those already here don't acclimate to their new country, they never will, if their communities keep getting more people form their homelands.
In the US, we've lost control not just of these too-large refugee and some immigrant communities, but of much of the black population and now minorities on campus, enabled by BLM and culturally naïve white students on campus.
(had to get those those spelled out)
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