WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the House of Representatives successfully passed two bipartisan bills, H.R. 4402 and H.R. 4408 aimed at enhancing national security by preventing terrorists from traveling in and out of the United States:
Today, Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the House of Representatives successfully passed two bipartisan bills, H.R. 4402 and H.R. 4408 aimed at enhancing national security by preventing terrorists from traveling in and out of the United States:
“After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, intelligence officials stated that a ‘failure of imagination’ was to blame for this security breach. Currently, the United States is dealing with a ‘failure of politics’ as the White House would rather give terrorists rights and bring them to America than protect the American people. It is absolutely shameful that hundreds of jihadists have been able to slip past the Obama Administration’s security measures and travel to the world’s most dangerous terrorist safe havens.
“Unfortunately, the president continues to put politics ahead of sound policy and has refused to support multiple commonsense pieces of legislation that have passed the House to secure this nation. Instead, he is more focused on shutting down Guantanamo Bay and redistributing those terrorists throughout America. These two bills that passed the House with unanimous support send another crystal clear message that the Obama Administration needs to wake up and do more to protect the American people. Until we make cracking down on terrorist travel a national priority we will continue to leave Americans vulnerable to further harm.”
Background
Courtesy of the House Republican Conference: H.R. 4402, the Foreign Fighter Review Act, requires the President of the United States, acting through the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to conduct a review, within 120 days of enactment, of all known instances since 2011 in which a person traveled or attempted to travel from the United States to a conflict zone in Iraq or Syria to join or provide material support to a terrorist organization. The review shall include: all relevant information held by the U.S. government; factors that may have undermined efforts to prevent the travel of such individuals to Iraq or Syria; and lessons learned to prevent any additional travel.
H.R. 4408, the National Strategy to Combat Terrorist Travel Act, requires the President of the United States, acting through the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to submit to Congress, within 180 days after enactment, a national strategy to combat terrorist travel. The strategy would focus on identifying and strengthening U.S. government efforts to intercept terrorists and foreign fighters and making it more difficult for such individuals to travel domestically and internationally. In addition, implementation plans are required to be created to carry out each part of the strategy.
