You can’t convince me that the GOP is the party of national security. That was the old GOP. Not after this common sense piece of legislation was voted down 10-89 in the Senate last Thursday.
Only 10 senators voted YES to a bill, sponsored by presidential candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) dubbed the “Stop Extremists Coming Under Refugee Entry (SECURE) Act, that would temporarily ban refugees from 32 Muslim-majority countries, as well as the Palestinian territories and North Korea, from entering the US. It was attached as an amendment to the Obamacare funding bill.
The amendment wasn’t based on a religious test, it was based on geography. The moratorium on accepting refugees from the “high-risk countries” listed in the bill would end once the Department of Homeland Security demonstrates compliance with six stipulations intended to weed out potential terrorists posing as refugees.
These are the countries and territories covered in the amendment, also known as the SECURE Act.
Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen, The Palestinian Territories.
| VOTE | PARTY | REPRESENTATIVE | STATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yea | R | Sessions, Jeff | AL |
| Yea | R | Shelby, Richard | AL |
| Yea | R | Kirk, Mark | IL |
| Yea | R | Moran, Jerry | KS |
| VOTE | PARTY | REPRESENTATIVE | STATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yea | R | Paul, Rand | KY |
| Yea | R | Vitter, David | LA |
| Yea | R | Cruz, Ted | TX |
| Yea | R | Lee, Mike | UT |
| VOTE | PARTY | REPRESENTATIVE | STATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yea | R | Barrasso, John | WY |
| Yea | R | Enzi, Michael | WY |
Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined with the Democrats and voted NO.
