Paul Ryan’s First Act as Speaker Blocks Amendments To Refugee Resettlement Bill


In the run up to the vote the new speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, was in a position to steer both the bill and potential amendments that House members might want to offer to strengthen and improve the bill. Instead, he blocked all amendments, leaving many Republicans frustrated that it will simply be for show without filling in the gaps and achieving the goal of making America safer.

This leaves many Republicans questioning Ryan’s willingness to improve the openness of the legislative process which was a major complaint among GOP House members with former speaker John Boehner.

“The rule provides one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill,” the Rules memo continued. “The rule provides that the bill shall be considered as read. The rule waives all points of order against provisions in the bill. The rule provides one motion to recommit.”

While it’s technically the House Rules Committee taking this action, the Speaker of the House has substantial influence over the outcome.

McCaul’s bill contained several holes and didn’t fix the problem—it simply required more paperwork from the administration, and still lets refugees into the U.S. from Syria, according to sources close to Breitbart News.

The bill requires that: (1) “The FBI director must certify the background investigation of each refugee” and (2) “the secretary of homeland security, FBI director and the director of national intelligence must unanimously concur that each refugee is not a security threat to the United states and make a certification to Congress.”

The reality is that the bill does not stop the flow of immigrants from the Middle East, something the American public clearly wants.

And equally troubling is the potential that Ryan will ignore conservative Republican House members and promote only what the GOP establishment is in favor of.  That would simply be more of the same type of leadership shown by John Boehner, and it is precisely why he was forced from the speakership.

Source: Breitbart.com

 



Share

291 Comments

Leave a Reply

Pin It on Pinterest