Providing For Congressional Disapproval of a Rule Submitted By The Environmental Protection Agency
Floor Speech
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Mr. President, on Friday we all watched in horror the tragic events that unfolded in the city of Paris. We saw radical Islamic terrorists brutally target innocent civilians in places that no one should feel unsafe--a soccer stadium, a concert hall, and a cafe. These attacks on our Nation's oldest ally have struck us here at home to our very core.
We know what it is like to be attacked in our homeland, and therefore we know what the French people are going through. As we continue to keep the French people in our thoughts and prayers, we should do everything in our power to assist them. As the facts unfold and if, indeed, ISIS did plan and execute these attacks as they have claimed, then the United States and our allies have an obligation to join France in responding swiftly and forcefully.
These attacks are a tragic reminder that the threat of ISIS stretches well beyond the Middle East. ISIS is not a JV team, nor have they been contained as the President of the United States has claimed. More than a year ago, I stood here on the Senate floor and said that we would not vote to give the President a blank check in Syria without a clear strategy with achievable objectives to defeat the terrorist threat. Nevertheless, over the course of this last year, the President has failed to come up with any sort of coherent strategy to deal with this threat. What we have seen and heard are speeches, interviews, and vague assurances that have attempted to distract the American public from the stark reality that the President's so-called strategy against ISIS is not achieving his stated objective of degrading and ultimately destroying ISIS. This whole idea that you can, through bombing attacks, defeat a threat like ISIS and, once the threat is cleared, hold that real estate or hold that land is just a pipe dream.
The United States and our partners are facing a robust enemy of more than 20,000 core and foreign fighters that have continued to murder their way across Syria and Iraq, decimating populations there and elsewhere as their influence and power grows. Over the last year, the administration's paralysis over how to defeat this terrorist threat has plunged Syria deeper and deeper into violence and chaos. What started as a civil war in Syria back in 2011 has now cost the lives of roughly 1 million Syrians. Millions of people have been internally displaced within Syria and outside of its borders into surrounding countries, such as Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and elsewhere, and now we are seeing that wave of refugees extend to Europe, and, indeed, some have now made their way to our shores.
By allowing ISIS to take over such a large portion of territory, President Obama has neglected one of the key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which advised the U.S. Government following that fateful day on September 11, 2001, to ``identify and prioritize actual or potential terrorist sanctuaries.'' Instead, the President has stood and watched like a spectator while this terrorist army, over the course of many months, has carved out its own safe haven right in the heart of the Middle East, and in doing so, has erased the border between Syria and Iraq where they control large swaths of territory.
The capture of these swaths of territory and the spread of the violent, extremist ideology has not been the only consequence. The civil unrest in Syria has fueled the influx of nearly one-half million refugees who have flooded Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
Under questioning in the House Committee on Homeland Security last month, FBI Director James Comey was asked about the security precautions the Federal Government was taking when screening refugees. Director Comey confirmed what many of us have feared, and that is if a Syrian refugee was not already known to law enforcement and intelligence officials, it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to vet that individual's background for potential terror ties to various terrorist groups. He explained it by saying: ``If someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home but ..... there will be nothing ..... because we will have no record on that person.''
I am proud of our history of opening our doors to innocent people fleeing violence or religious persecution. That is part of who we are as a country. But following Friday's attack, we should pause our Syrian refugee program until we can be sure that the individuals are being fully vetted for potential terror ties so we can ensure the public safety of all Americans, which is our first responsibility. Compassion for those refugees is important, as I said, but protecting our homeland and keeping the American people safer is the first order of business. With the latest public threat from ISIS yesterday directed at us here in the United States, we must remain vigilant against the ongoing threat that may come from those already inside our country.
The attack in Paris has drawn attention to the degree to which law enforcement and intelligence officials are able to track, surveil, and apprehend potential threats before they turn deadly, but with changing technology and damaging intelligence leaks, that is becoming increasingly challenging.
In that same House hearing in October, the Director of the National Coun ter ter ror ism Center noted that potential homegrown threats were finding ways to communicate ``outside of our reach'' and therefore, off our radar.
As law enforcement officials have noted, this includes the use of Internet service providers outside the United States as well as the increasingly widespread use of encryption capabilities and new technologies. Yet, as the threat of ISIS evolves and intensifies, the world is looking toward the United States as an example of strength. So I propose in the wake of this deadly attack that our administration and the Federal Government do three things.
First, the President needs to hit the pause button on Syrian refugee resettlement until the Department of Homeland Security can verify with certainty that our processes are enhanced to ensure that applicants do not have ties to ISIS or any other terror groups.
Secondly, the President needs to lay out a clear strategy for destroying perhaps the best resourced, best armed terrorist group on the planet. This is long overdue, and his failure to do so is one of the reasons we find ourselves where we are today. It is in the best interest of the Syrian people to stay in Syria if they can, but with circumstances being what they are, we can understand from a human perspective why they would seek a safe haven wherever they can find it. This refugee crisis is directly related to the President's failure to have any effective strategy to deal with the situation on the ground in Syria. It is destabilizing governments in the region, which have huge refugee populations and which have to deal with the economic and other challenges of dealing with that situation. It is important to see the refugee crisis--including the 10,000 Syrian refugees who appeared in New Orleans just this last week--is a result of a failure of any strategy to deal with this conflict in Syria.
There are suggestions that have been made that I think bear some consideration, such as having safe zones and no-fly and no-drive zones enforced by the international community. Before I spoke, I believe the Senator from Indiana suggested maybe this would be an appropriate mission for NATO. Maybe so. We ought to talk about and reach some decisions about that.
Finally, the President of the United States has the obligation to explain to the American people how he is going to defend our interests and keep our people safe here at home.
As I said, one of the biggest threats is homegrown terrorists radicalized over social media and the Internet. Perhaps even more concerning to me than the threat of a potential attacker entering the United States is a self-radicalized attacker that is already here. This homegrown threat, I believe, poses a much more imminent danger to our people--a sad fact we learned the hard way at Fort Hood, TX, in 2009, and in Garland, TX, earlier this year.
In conclusion, all indications from the White House are the President will not change a thing. He is going to stay the course in spite of the gathering risk and danger of terrorist attacks being exported or being incited within our own borders. Now, more than ever, the Nation needs the kind of strong leadership that is commensurate with the challenges we are facing. That is the kind of leadership that the American people expect and the kind of leadership that they deserve.
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