[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 173 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8242-S8244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Flake, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. 
        Coats, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Bennet, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. 
        Warner, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Tester, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. 
        Boxer, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Franken):
  S. 2337. A bill to improve homeland security by enhancing the 
requirements for participation in the Visa Waiver Program, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Visa Waiver 
Program Security Enhancement Act.
  I am pleased to be joined by Senator Flake, who is the lead 
Republican cosponsor, as well as Senators Heitkamp, Coats, Heinrich, 
Johnson, Bennet, Ayotte, Warner, Baldwin, Tester, King, Klobuchar, 
Boxer, and Blumenthal.
  This bill would improve the security of the Visa Waiver Program, 
which is used by about 20 million travelers a year.
  The horrific attacks in Paris and the emergence of ISIL make it 
absolutely clear that we must strengthen the Visa Waiver Program to 
protect our country. This bill would do just that.
  38 countries are now part of the Visa Waiver Program.
  Nationals from these countries may come to the United States for up 
to 90 days without a visa.
  Travelers through the program use an online application to gain 
approval to travel to the United States. Many of these travelers simply 
apply for approval from their home computer.
  Participating countries must also enter into valuable intelligence-
sharing agreements with the United States.
  By comparison, only about 36 million people secured visas for 
business, tourism, and other temporary purposes to the United States 
from 2005 to 2010--an average of only 6 million per year.
  As we all know, fewer than 2,000 refugees from the Syrian conflict--
which go through a heavy vetting process--were admitted to the United 
States over the last 4 years.
  Put that in perspective: fewer than 2,000 Syrian refugees over 4 
years, versus 20 million travelers through the Visa Waiver program 
annually.

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  The vetting for a refugee takes 18 to 24 months, whereas an 
application to travel through the Visa Waiver Program can be approved 
within seconds.
  That should tell us how much of a priority improving the security of 
this program is.
  Today, there are thousands of citizens from European visa waiver 
countries that have gone to fight in Syria.
  In fact, the Visa Waiver Program includes numerous countries that 
have populations in which some people have become radicalized.
  The program includes 38 countries, including the following: Belgium, 
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, and The United 
Kingdom.
  So, nationals of these countries who travel to Iraq or Syria to train 
and fight may then be able to cross back into Europe and then come to 
this country on a visa waiver.
  As is now clear, some who committed the recent attacks in Paris were 
French and Belgian nationals.
  The attackers in the Charlie Hebdo attacks--the Kouachi brothers--
were born and raised in France. They were French nationals as well.
  The European Union Justice Commissioner said in April of this year 
that 5,000-6,000 Europeans could be fighting in Syria.
  More than 1,500 are French nationals.
  This is why the Visa Waiver Program, at the current time, poses a 
major risk--it is a quick and direct route for a terrorist to come to 
the United States without a visa.
  The group known as ISIL has publicly threatened to attack the United 
States and we have every reason to believe they will exploit every 
opportunity to do so.
  So we must take strong action.
  A major concern is also the problem with lost and stolen passports, 
which could be used by dangerous individuals to gain entry to the 
United States on the Visa Waiver Program without raising red flags.
  According to INTERPOL, nearly 45 million passports have been reported 
lost or stolen within the past 10 years.
  Let me repeat that: 45 million lost or stolen passports circulating 
worldwide.
  Passports typically are valid for five to 10 years, which means many 
of these lost or stolen passports have not yet expired.
  If a blank passport is stolen, it may have no expiration date at all.
  A foreign fighter could use one of the millions of unexpired lost and 
stolen passports to travel to the United States through the Visa Waiver 
Program in order to do us harm.
  Today, the first face-to-face interaction and biometric check that a 
first-time Visa Waiver Program traveler would have with any U.S. 
official is when the person reaches the port of entry, like a United 
States airport.
  That provides only a narrow window to detect that the individual is a 
person who is intent on committing an attack.
  This Visa Waiver Program Security Enhancement Act would strengthen 
the Visa Waiver Program in a variety of ways, making our nation safer 
and protecting an important stream of international tourism and 
commerce.
  First, the bill says that a national of a Visa Waiver country who has 
traveled to Iraq or Syria in the last five years would have to get a 
visa instead of using the Visa Waiver Program.
  The effect of this would be that the person would have to go through 
the normal consular process--in which biometric information would be 
taken, and the person interviewed--instead of traveling to the United 
States on a visa waiver.
  Second, the bill would require that biometric data, such as digital 
photographs or fingerprints, be provided to the U.S. government prior 
to boarding a plane to travel to the U.S. on the Visa Waiver Program 
but only for those individuals for whom we do not already have 
biometrics.
  Today, biometrics are not taken until a traveler from a Visa Waiver 
country first enters the United States at the port of entry.
  That is too late, and it leaves the opportunity for a person seeking 
to commit an attack against the aircraft itself to do so.
  We have recently seen that ISIL is willing to take down airliners. We 
know what sort of tragedy can happen when terrorists take control of an 
airplane.
  We must do everything we can to make sure an ISIL member does not 
board an aircraft bound for the United States with the intent to take 
it down.
  This bill would make the biometric requirement effective within one 
year, prioritizing areas of danger, and would enable the Department of 
Homeland Security to extend the roll-out on a country-specific basis.
  The Department of Homeland Security has already announced its intent 
to expand Customs and Border Protection preclearance to new foreign 
airports, including in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United 
Kingdom--all Visa Waiver countries.
  As the bill is currently written, those foreign nationals who travel 
through the preclearance process would satisfy the biometric 
requirements of the bill.
  The simple fact is that we need to develop a way to screen and verify 
individuals biometrically before they get on a plane to the U.S., and 
this bill would do that.
  Third, the bill would eliminate the use of older-generation passports 
by any citizen of Visa Waiver Countries.
  Within 90 days of enactment, all Visa Waiver travelers would be 
required to have a valid, unexpired, machine-readable passport that is 
tamper-resistant and incorporates biometric identifiers.
  The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will roll 
this out administratively, but this provision would make it a clear 
statutory requirement.
  Fourth, the bill would strengthen the intelligence sharing that is 
the bedrock of this program.
  The Department of Homeland Security has been able to gather valuable 
data from Visa Waiver countries under existing information sharing 
agreements.
  There are three such agreements. One relates to information regarding 
known or suspected terrorists. The second relates to sharing of 
fingerprint data pertaining to serious crimes. And the third requires 
provision of lost or stolen passport information directly or via 
INTERPOL.
  It is my understanding that--although countries have signed these 
agreements--not all have fully implemented them. This bill would 
require that those agreements be implemented, not just signed.
  The bill would also establish several new information-sharing 
provisions, which the Department of Homeland Security would be required 
to examine in assessing whether a country can join or stay in the Visa 
Waiver Program.
  One such provision would require DHS to consider whether a country 
contributes to and screens against INTERPOL's lost and stolen documents 
database.
  Let me explain why this is important. Simply put, INTERPOL's lost and 
stolen documents database is not as frequently used as it could be.
  Increased use of INTERPOL's database could assist all nations, 
including those outside the Visa Waiver Program, to prevent travel 
using lost or stolen passports and thus to inhibit the international 
movement of foreign fighters.
  This bill would also require DHS to consider whether a country 
collects and shares biometric information of refugee and asylum 
seekers--an important provision to help the United States ensure bad 
actors are prevented from traveling to the United States.
  It would also require DHS to consider whether a country shares 
intelligence about foreign fighters with the United States, as well as 
with international organizations like INTERPOL.
  Lastly, the bill would require that countries participating in the 
Visa Waiver Program have Federal Air Marshal agreements in place.
  The Paris attacks demonstrate beyond any doubt that the Visa Waiver 
Program creates a security risk for our country.
  The Visa Waiver Program Security Enhancement Act will address 
vulnerabilities in the Visa Waiver Program, improve information 
sharing, and help keep our country safe.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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