DENVER | Colorado congressman Jared Polis is one of 47 Democrats who joined with House Republicans to support making it harder for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to enter the United States.
The measure passed Thursday would in effect suspend admissions of those refugees. It would require the FBI to conduct background checks and oblige security and intelligence officials to certify that each refugee is not a threat.
Polis says he supports improving what he says is an already extensive vetting system as well as raising the number of refugees to be admitted this year above the Obama administration’s planned increase.
Fellow Democrat Rep. Ed Perlmutter, meanwhile, voted for the Democrats’ alternative measure. Backers say it would have added another layer of scrutiny and would have taken 18 to 24 months to process refugees.
The bill would require new FBI background checks and individual sign offs from three high ranking U.S. officials from three Govt.
agencies. With thousands of applications, how can anyone in their right mind believe that three high ranking U.S. officials would
have the time to do this — it would hurt our ability to protect this nation, while three high ranking U.S. officials sign off on applications.
This is a political ploy to punish any of these officials if an attack happens in the U.S. Pure and simple.