[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          KEEP AMERICANS SAFE

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Madam Speaker, anyone who wants to protect 
Americans from terrorist attacks should support President Trump's 
immigration executive orders.
  Put aside the hysteria of his political opponents. Here are the 
facts:
  There will be a temporary halt in the admission to the U.S. of those 
from seven designated countries, including Iraq, Iran, Libya, and 
Syria. These are the exact same countries designated a security threat 
by President Obama.
  Congress passed bipartisan legislation in 2015 designating these 
countries as security risks in order to protect our homeland from 
terrorism. In fact, the bill passed the House of Representatives by a 
vote of 407-19.
  Despite what the media and others imply, Muslims are not being 
targeted. Many Muslim majority countries, in fact, are not singled out. 
The purpose of the temporary halt is to allow time to improve 
procedures so better background checks can be developed.
  Who could possibly oppose efforts to keep Americans safe?

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