American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act Of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this bill is a great way for Congress to appear as if it is acting and achieving something without actually doing anything.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. We have had numerous hearings from the beginning of the year, including yesterday, on this issue specifically.

One of the great challenges Western countries face is the problem of homegrown terrorism. We saw that last week in Paris when the overwhelming majority of those who perpetrated these acts were French nationals and Belgian nationals.

So the big issue we face is: What do we do with those who hold European passports and who can come here easily by getting a plane ticket? What do we do with the problem of homegrown terrorism here in the U.S. among American citizens? Those are the key challenges we face in how we balance our civil liberties, our need for tourism, our need for economic bilateral relations, with our need for security. This bill sadly today does absolutely nothing about that.

So we are going to pass this bill. We are going to pat ourselves on the back. We are going to go home and say we did something when actually we have done nothing to solve the problem and protect the security of the American people.

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