McCaul, Miller Statement on Administration's Visa Waiver Program Implementation

Press Release

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI), author of the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, released the following statement in response to the administration's announcement of their implementation of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP):

Statement by Chairman McCaul and Rep. Miller: "The Obama Administration is blatantly breaking the law, a law the President himself signed. All waivers announced by the White House were explicitly rejected by Congress during our negotiations with the Administration. This is not a difference of opinion over statutory interpretation, it is a clear contradiction of the law and the agreement we reached with the White House. President Obama is again putting his relationship with Iran's supreme leader over the security of Americans. He cannot rewrite the law to appease foreign governments--he should instead pay attention to his own. The will of Congress was clear with this legislation, yet now the executive branch is blatantly planning to violate it. We will respond and are reviewing our options."

In drafting this bill, Congress included a national security and law enforcement waiver to exempt certain individuals from the new requirements only in limited circumstances. It was never designed or intended to apply to broad categories of VWP travelers.

The Administration now plans to implement the law contrary to the way it was written and signed by the President. The Administration plans to include waivers that were explicitly rejected during negotiations with the White House, State Department and Department of Homeland Security, including the ability to waive individuals from the new security requirements if they traveled to the covered countries (Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Sudan) for certain government, humanitarian, or journalistic purposes--or to Iran or Iraq for business purposes. Again, these exemptions were not included in the legislation, which passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 409 to 21, yet the Administration now claims they can apply such waivers.

On December 23, 2015, the House Majority Leader, National Security Committee Chairmen, and Rep. Candice Miller sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson warning against this false reading of the law and expressing serious concern about Secretary Kerry's promises to Iran that the United States could waive new requirements to accommodate the regime's demands.

Source