American Groundswell against Obama Syrian Refugee Resettlement

Yesterday, the Washington Post printed a list of states whose governors say they won’t accept Syrian refugees, citing the inability to certify with certainty they are not radicalized. The states have Republican governors : Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. And now the Democratic governor of New Hampshire, Maggie Hassan, says the federal government should “halt acceptance” of Syrian refugees until guarantees can be offered. The leftist George Soros group MoveOn.org ripped Hassan, saying it is “incredibly disappointing” to see a Democrat “join with her far right-wing Republican counterparts. When politicians use fear or racism to win elections, we should condemn that action - not reward it.” ~~~~~ It's not just one Democrat governor joining the GOP. Yesterday, two top Senate Democrats questioned the refugee resettlement program. New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who will become the Democratic Senate leader in 2017, said “a pause may be necessary” on admitting Syrians. And, the deepest cut came from Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. Feinstein said the US needs to examine the role the visa process plays in security risks, as well as the use of encrypted communication. ISIS is different from al-Qaeda, said Feinstein, "This is big; ISIL has 30,000 fighters." ~~~~~ If the GOP is reacting "hysterically" to the Syrian refugee resettlement program, as Obama is charging in vicious personal attacks, a Bloomberg poll released yesterday shows that 53% of Americans must be "hysterical," too, because that's how many agree with GOP presidential candidates, the Republican Party, and Democrats Hassan, Schumer and Feinstein. Along with the 53%, surveyed immediately after the Paris attacks, who want to halt the resettlement of 10,000 Syrian refugees, 11% said they would favor a limited program to accept only Syrian Christians while excluding Moslems, a proposal Obama has dismissed as “shameful” and "un-American." ~~~~~ With the Obama administration saying states may not have the power to refuse refugees, the issue has moved to Congress. Senator Rand Paul, a GOP presidential candidate, proposed legislation that would impose an “immediate moratorium on visas for refugees” from countries with “jihadist movements.” Senator Ted Cruz, another GOP candidate, said he will introduce legislation that would ban all Moslem Syrian refugees from entering the US. Cruz said : “What Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing is that we bring to this country tens of thousands of Syrian Moslem refugees....particularly in light of what happened in Paris, that’s nothing short of lunacy.” GOP leaders could vote on the refugee question before the Thanksgiving break, and the House will pass a bill placing strict controls on Syrian and Iraqi refugee certification. Legislation restricting Obama’s refugee program could be a tough vote for Democrats, forced to choose between backing their President and responding to public fears about a potential terrorist attack in the United States. The fight could become an obstacle to finishing the year-end government funding bill by December 11 because the GOP wants to include language to halt federal funding for refugee resettlement. Obama has threatened to veto a bill halting resettlement. It is unclear if this means the funding bill or if a veto could be overridden. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Ted Cruz has the right approach to Obama : "If you want to insult me, you can do it overseas, you can do it in Turkey, you can do it in foreign countries but I would encourage you, Mr. President, to come back and insult me to my face. Let’s have a debate on Syrian refugees right now....if he actually wants to defend his policy instead of tossing cheap insults, I actually think that will be beneficial for this country." The White House has not responded.