November 19, 2015 was a sad day in America. Nearly 50 Democrats chose cowardice over leadership in the US House of Representatives by voting in favor of HR 4038 “American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act.” The bill does essentially nothing and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the bill will never get through the Senate. But even if it did get through the Senate, the bill doesn’t do anything to the process of screening refugees from Syria or Iraq or anywhere else.
The Department of Homeland Security refugee screening process is arduous and can take as long as two years to complete. Why these 47 Democrats decided it made sense to come out in favor of a bill designed to prove one’s capacity for bigotry is not yet known.
The reason Republicans voted for it is obvious. Being a bigot for many Republicans is an asset.
Here’s the list of 47 Democrats who failed the leadership test today. The full roll call vote can be found here. Two Republicans voted against this bill.
Pete Aguilar
Pete Aguilar (California’s 31st District)
Brad Ashford
Brad Ashford (Nebraska’s 2nd District)
Ami Bera
Ami Bera (Sacremento County California)
Sanford Bishop
Sanford Bishop (Middle and Southwest Georgia)
Julia Brownley
Julia Brownley (California’s 26th District)
Cheri Bustos
Cheri Bustos (Illinois’ 17th District)
John Carney
John Carney (Delaware)
Gerry Connolly
Gerry Connolly (Virginia’s 11th District)
Jim Cooper
Jim Cooper (Tennessee’s 5th District)
Jim Costa
Jim Costa (California’s 16th District)
Joe Courtney
Joe Courtney (Connecticut’s 2nd District)
Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar (Texas’ 28th District)
John Delaney
John Delaney (Maryland’s 6th District)
Lloyd Doggett
Lloyd Doggett (Texas)
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii’s 2nd District)
John Garamendi
John Garamendi (California’s 3rd District)
Gwen Graham
Gwen Graham (Florida’s 2nd District)
Gene Green
Green, Gene (29th District of Texas)
Janice Hahn
Janice Hahn (California’s 44th District)
Jim Himes
Jim Himes (Connecticut’s 4th District)
Steve Israel
Steve Israel (New York’s 3rd District)
Marcy Kaptur
Marcy Kaptur (Ohio)
Bill Keating
Bill Keating (Massachusetts’ 9th District)
Ron Kind
Ron Kind (Wisconsin’s 3rd District)
Ann McLane Kuster
Ann McLane Kuster (New Hampshire’s 2nd District)
Jim Langevin
Jim Langevin (Rhode Island’s 2nd District)
Daniel Lipinski
Daniel Lipinski (3rd District of Illinois)
Dave Loebsack
Dave Loebsack (Iowa’s 2nd District)
Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch (Massachusett’s 8th District)
Sean Maloney
Sean Maloney (New York’s 18th District)
Patrick Murphy
Patrick Murphy (Florida’s 18th District)
Rick Nolan
Rick Nolan (Minnesota’s 8th District)
Donald Norcross
Donald Norcross (New Jersey’s 1st District)
Scott Peters
Scott Peters (California’s 52nd District)
Collin Peterson
Collin Peterson (Minnesota’s 7th District)
Jared Polis
Jared Polis (Colorado’s 2nd District)
Kathleen Rice
Kathleen Rice (New York’s 4th District)
Raul Ruiz
Raul Ruiz (California’s 36th District)
Tim Ryan
Tim Ryan (Ohio’s 13th District)
Kurt Schrader
Kurt Schrader (Oregon’s 5th District)
David Scott
David Scott (Georgia’s 13th District)
Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell (Alabama’s 7th District)
Kyrsten Sinema
Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona’s 9th District)
Louise Slaughter
Louise Slaughter (New York’s 25th District)
Marc Veasey
Marc Veasey (33rd District of Texas)
Filemon Vela
Filemon Vela (34th District of Texas)
Tim Walz
Tim Walz (Minnesota’s 1st District)
Shame on you ~ shame for caving in to the bigotry and fear-mongering of the cowardly liars on the right.
Refugees are as much the victims as are the dead and wounded of Paris and deserve our assistance, not to be victimized all over again.