Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and White House chief of staff Dennis McDonough made their case against the measure in a closed-door meeting, but members coming out of meeting said their pitch wasn’t effective.
“I’ve seen better presentations in my time here,” said Democratic Rep. Steve Israel of New York, who was still undecided. “They may have strong arguments on their side, but they’re not expressing those strong arguments sufficiently.”
“There’s no question that the Republicans have expertly politicized this,” Israel, who runs House Democrats’ messaging strategy, added.
The House will take up the bill Thursday afternoon, following the release of a Bloomberg poll that found the majority of those surveyed do not want the administration to continue with its plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.
During the meeting with administration officials, some Democrats expressed concern about a backlash from their constituents if they voted against the Republicans’ bill. According to a Democratic aide in the room, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York said the party could lose seats if they voted against the bill.
And Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who will vote in favor of the bill, told reporters it was “carefully crafted” and the administration should work with Republicans on the legislation instead of urging Democrats to vote against.
“(The bill) adds more of a burden in the screening, but it’s not a devastating added burden and it does give assurance that those coming into the country are properly screened and not a threat to anybody.”
From what I understand the bill will require top officials to personally vet the refugees and certify that they are not terrorists. That creates a major roadblock --- which is the point.
They can't even take a stand when they don't have the majority. You can be sure that if their constituents are quivering in fear of Syrian orphans and want a big daddy figure to crack some heads so they can feel safe again, this is not something that will make them vote for them. In fact, it just makes them look like cowards to everyone.
According to Greg Sargent at the Washington Post, the Democrats in the Senate may block this bill with some kind of poison pill requiring that we close off visas to all Middle Eastern countries, including our allies. I wish I had faith that the Senate would hold the line on this but I doubt it. In any case, the French terrorists all held European passports so unless they're ready to go there this whole thing is just more fearmongering nonsense.
These Democrats have the cover of their president and both Democratic candidates on this issue. They could take a chance for once that doing the right thing on a national security issue is worth it.