Foreign Policy

If Africa is to achieve its promise, resolving the problems in the Congo will be critical. Already, the region's overlapping ethnic identities, and abundant natural resources have made the country a magnet for fighters from a half-dozen neighboring countries. If left untended, Congo's bloodshed will continue to infect the entire region and the continent. This bill is an important step on the long road towards bringing peace and prosperity to the Congo, and I am proud to be a part of a collaborative, bipartisan effort with some of the Senate's leading voices - Brownback, Durbin, DeWine - on Africa.

The Diversity Visa Program symbolizes what makes America great because with a little luck and hard work anyone can succeed here—we are the only country that can say that. By limiting most diversity visas to the world’s privileged elite the Gregg amendment would dash the dreams of all those who dream of a better life. The Gregg amendment would also shift visas away from Africa and the developing world and toward wealthier European and Asian states. This would overturn the whole point of the program!

Accepting the Gregg amendment would send a terrible message about what America is all about: not a land of opportunity, but rather an exclusive club.  

 

Word on the street is that the Senate could wrap-up debate as early as this week on their version of immigration reform. Unfortunately for the American people, what the Senate is considering is far from true immigration reform; rather it is a rehash of a failed policy from twenty years ago.

Much like the amnesty bill that became law in 1986, the current Senate proposal will allow illegal immigrants to pursue a "path to citizenship" as long as they comply with certain requirements like paying a fine and back taxes. The Senate approach couples that with tougher border security measures and new sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants.

If you looked up a summary of the 1986 act, it would read eerily similar. The end result of that policy was over two million illegal immigrants were granted amnesty for entering the country illegally. As for the reform end, well, you tell me if we ever got that secure border we were promised in 1986.

So, here we are today, debating that same failed policy. The borders are as porous as ever and employers who break the law are not subjected to the harsh sanctions we were promised in 1986. If the policy of granting amnesty in exchange for stronger immigration laws and increased enforcement actually worked, we would not be re-living this debate today.

As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I've always considered myself a man of peace. A Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority is antithetical to a peaceful Middle East or a two-state solution and I strongly support current US law that prevents any funding from going to Hamas. But Hamas profits when we cut off funding to NGOs in the region working towards reconciliation and peace -- the likely result of HR 4681. Providing assistance to proactive programs that work to build peace and democracy in Palestine is critical to US national security interests, a secure Israel and a two-state solution.

H.R. 4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, aspires to promote democratic institutions in areas under control of the Palestinian Authority. In reality, it does little to advance the prospects for sustainable peace in the region, and it weakens the Nation's capacity to protect its own interests.

Surely the international community hopes to achieve a sustainable peace between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. This bill, however, places onerous preconditions on the Palestinian Authority that will make it more difficult for the Authority to return to negotiations with U.S. and Israeli authorities. These preconditions would be unachievable in the short term, and they marginalize Palestinian moderates that already support a peace process and a dual-state solution. In this scenario, extremists would have little incentive to moderate their views, and moderates would become frustrated over the inability to move toward peace. Read more...

HAMAS is a terrorist organization and the United States has clear policy for dealing with terrorists: we don't do it. We don't legitimize them and we don't acknowledge phony distinctions between their political and terrorist "wings." HAMAS is an organization of religious zealots who put bombs in stores, clubs, restaurants, hotels and buses, murdering innocent people and with the ultimate goal of destroying the State of Israel and replacing it with an Islamist state. HAMAS is responsible not only for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, but also dozens of Americans. They should not get a "pass" for any of these deaths. The idea of giving tax-payer money to terrorists who have slaughtered our own citizens is grotesque.

Today's overwhelming vote by the House makes it unambiguously clear that House Members will not support a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority which has chosen to dedicate its resources and energies to supporting continued terrorist attacks against Israel, rather than to helping the Palestinian people.

Specifically, my colleagues and I indicated that we will not, directly or indirectly, allow American taxpayer funds to be used to perpetuate the leadership of an Islamist jihadist entity, responsible for murdering hundreds, and wounding scores of innocent Israeli civilians, U.S. citizens, and other foreigners throughout the years.

I am for whatever it takes to protect and secure the free world for a missile attack from Iran.

The Administration's plan for a National Missile Defense in Europe is nothing more than deploying an expensive myth in the absence of true international cooperation.

National Missile Defense (NMD) has a well documented record of failure. Despite over twenty years worth of research and development, and hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money wasted, no NMD system has successfully completed a live-fire test.

The only people who benefit from this taxpayer funded boondoggle are the defense contractors who continue to line their pockets with taxpayer funds without producing a successful live-fire test.

Missile defense has failed in America, and it will fail in Europe.

Only international diplomacy, in which the United States participates, will resolve our stand off with Iran. A new arms race in Europe will not deter Iran from pursuing nuclear technologies, and is just the latest example of this Administration's failed foreign policy that makes our country less, not more, secure.

 

For years, the Bush administration has not kept the Senate Intelligence committee fully and currently informed of all appropriate intelligence activities. Until recently, for example, for some time now only two Democratic senators were allowed by the Bush administration to be briefed on all these matters that are all over our newspapers.

These failures in my view have put the American people in a difficult spot. Because the committee hasn't been kept informed, because of these revelations in the newspapers, now we have many of our citizens -- law-abiding, patriotic Americans who want to strike the balance between fighting terrorism and protecting liberty, now they're questioning their government's word. (from the open hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence-May 18)