The cowards feel a backlash
by digby
This is a little bit of good news:
More than half of the House Democrats who voted to restrict the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the U.S. appear to be having second thoughts.
At least 26 of the 47 Democrats who supported the measure have signed on to a letter urging House Speaker Paul Ryan not to include it in a must-pass omnibus spending bill likely to be voted on in the coming days, according to groups helping arrange the missive.
The lawmakers assert that the U.S. has an obligation to help people seeking refuge from violence and persecution. They also reject measures being floated that would defund the U.S. refugee resettlement program, arguing that “funds available for the vetting and placement of refugees should be increased to ensure a thorough and expeditious process.”
“We should all agree that inserting wholesale changes to refugee admission policies into a year-end spending bill—where they cannot be properly debated or amended—is not the appropriate way to consider these issues,” the letter states.
The lawmakers, however, don’t say in the letter if they are willing to vote against the omnibus spending bill if the refugee legislation ultimately winds up in it.
At least 84 Democrats total had signed the letter as of Friday evening, with more expected by Sunday night. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) who voted for the initial House bill, is helping spearhead the drive for signatures. Others who voted for the House bill but signed the letter include Reps. Steve Israel of New York and Ron Kind of Wisconsin.
“The initial House vote was simply a knee-jerk reaction in response to the Paris terror attacks,” said Yasmine Taeb, a lobbyist with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker group that helped organize the letter. “We are a nation of immigrants and it is simply unacceptable for our elected officials to turn their backs on innocent women, men, and children fleeing violence and persecution.”
The bill, whose lead sponsor was GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, was rushed through the House just days after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris amid still-unverified reports that one attacker may have posed as a Syrian migrant. All of the attackers identified so far have been European nationals.
Proponents insist the bill, which imposes additional security requirements for the U.S. refugee resettlement program, is aimed at protecting Americans from terrorists posing as refugees. Democrats who supported the bill were worried about a political backlash if they appeared to look weak on national security, but have since faced liberal-led fury for appearing to abandon refugees.
I’ll be surprised if this will hold up under the conservative hysteria after San bernardino, but it’s good to see some of them having second thoughts. That was one ugly moment. Unfortunately, it will likely not be the last one.