Washington (US Political RP; 2016 ; Congress Thread ; OPEN!)

[Prolieum]

House Floor

"The bill is passed, to be sent to the desk of the President to be signed"

"The House will move to take up the "Attaining Citizenship Through Service Act, as amended."

Official Name:Attaining Citizenship Through Service Act
Nickname: ACTS Act

Overview: Provides a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who serve in the armed forces. Service in the armed forces leads to citizenship. Family members are shielded and included at conclusion.

Section 1: The U.S. has two serious problems. There are over eleven million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Finding them and enforcing the law is expensive and difficult. The U.S. military also faces a shortage in volunteering personnel. This works on both problems.

Section 2: Allows any undocumented immigrant (UI) to enter the U.S. Armed forces as an enlisted member. This will be under the "Alien Enlistment Program". The citizen must reveal that they are undocumented.

Section 3: Under this program, the UI may enlist in the armed forces in active duty. For this period, they act as any enlisted member would without change to citizenship requirements.

Section 4: During this period, the UI, and any spouse or children who are also undocumented are shielded from deportation unless they commit a criminal act.

Section 5: At the conclusion of two enlistment periods of honorable service, the UI and immediate family as described above are granted U.S. citizenship.

Section 6: Notes that dishonorable service and discharge disqualifies the UI from this, and leaves them subject to deportation. Any criminal action also disqualifies.

Section 7: Should the UI be killed in the line of duty, the immediate family of the UI shall be granted U.S. Citizenship in the same manner as if the enlistment period was completed.

Senate Floor

"The Senate will move to allow debate on the bill as proposed. A motion to create a speakers' list would be in order."

[Argentarino]

"Mr. President?

It is clear that this bill is not derived from fact or even misplaced concerns for our national security. Rather, it is derived off of blatant ignorance and, dare I say, a fear of those who identify as Arab. To this day, there have been no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil by refugees, and the same can be said in Europe. The Senator from Missouri seems to forget we have a whole ocean separating us from the conflict, so a mass migration 'as seen in Europe' is quite impossible. It is clear that the Senator, despite saying he is aware of the process, is really not. Other than the process that was laid out, there is no tenable way for a mass influx of refugees to the United States to occur. Mr. President, the Senator is peddling irrational fear, fear of a people he does not understand. We have numerous communities in our country who come from the Middle East and Northern Africa, and they are loyal citizens. They pay their taxes, they obey our laws, they serve in our law enforcement and military communities. In fact, as is the case for refugees here and in Canada, they have done their part to give back to the community that they are now a part of. Some refugees start their own businesses, bringing back life and commerce to small towns and neighborhoods that were struggling under the Recession.

"However, Mr. President, it is clear that these facts, the facts that show the human and benign side of refugees, will probably have no impact on the author of this backward piece of legislation. For, in his own words, his concern is the possible death of 'Western culture.' Mr. President, I had similar views once, when I was in the Army, before I got to Iraq. A lot of us did. We didn't understand the people we were being sent to fight, we didn't understand the culture, the history, the language, and quite frankly, not a lot of us cared. But in Iraq, all of those notions, those misplaced fears that the Senator now preaches to us, were put to shame. When we Westerners were burning scientists at the stake for witchcraft, the Arabs were making progress in medicine, astrology, mathematics, literature, art. And the Iraqis I met were proud of that culture, that heritage. I'm not going to defend the actions of Arab governments that let abuses happen from under their noses, but I can tell you for sure that not every Arab man, woman, and child acts or feels that way, and despite the Senator's cries of 'I'm not being discriminatory,' well, Mr. President, what else would he call painting people with a broad brush for the actions of a horrible few?

"What the Senator fails to mention, by the way, about the events in Cologne, is this: an American tourist, a Ms. Caitlin Duncan, was one of those women who were attacked in Cologne that evening. She went to the police, however, as they were trying to control the crowd, they pushed her back in it. Scared, separated from her boyfriend, and attacked again by a different group of men, a group of Syrian refugees came to her aid. In her story to the Independent, she states that a group of Syrian refugees offered to help her. They 'formed a protective cordon around Ms. Duncan to help her through the crowd, offered to phone her boyfriend and searched for him with her when she could not remember his number.' Ms. Duncan was reunited with her boyfriend, and to this day, she keeps in touch with one of the Syrians who rescued her, a brave young man named Hesham Ahmad Mohammad. Mr. Mohammad was approached by the New York Times and told them that he was also frightened by the groups committing the attacks, saying they had 'lost their minds' on drink and drugs. He said further: “We keep hearing news about refugees all day: ‘They are bad people, they must go back to their home'...When I hear that in the news, I am sad. Because we know that there were bad boys and bad people. But the good people, nobody speaks about them.”

"Mr. President, this is a shamefully xenophobic and ignorant piece of legislation. It does not take into account the fact that we already have an extensive and comprehensive vetting program for refugees who apply to for resettlement from a secondary country, and it shamefully depicts all Middle Eastern peoples as ignorant or unwilling to abide by Western laws and norms. I wonder, if the Senator from Missouri were to visit Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, or the UAE, would he hold himself up to the same standards he is holding these refugees and migrants to? Or would he refuse to pay respect to the culture of his guests? Quite frankly, Mr. President, judging from his statements on the floor, I think we already know the answer to that question. Mr. President, I strongly urge all of my colleagues, Republican, Democrat, and Independent, to vote against this poor excuse of a bill."

[Terdesuni]

House floor-Rep Pickett MN 8

Pickett: Nay

Me. Speaker, and my fellow legislators, This bill while good intentions only apparent, holds deep underlying flaws. Say A man were too enlist under this bill, and join the armed forces? What garuntees he (or she) will not be forced into undesirable, dangerous, or other poor situations, on account of their status as foreigners? Nothing. This bill enables us, with the copious amount of non-citizens within and surrounding the nation, could raise an army of foreigners, using them to fight our battles, in exchange for citizenship, but I concede that remains a remote possibility at the moment.

But regardless of those concerns, one must take into account the after affects of war we wish to burden them with. Our VA system is quite in need of repair leaving prospective survivors of this bill now with various battle wounds and PTSD, since only active service is accepted, and insufficient resources to combat it.

The point? This bill throws immigrants onto the front lines of our wars in exchange for citizenship. This hardens back to offers by Sparta to free courageous slaves for battle service. We are above that, fellow representatives, and shall not take up such a shameful measure.
So

[Tumblrena]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1250
Friday
July 29
2016

Senator Havich stood up. "Mr. President?"

"Senator Conti, with all due respect, really? "Fear for those who identify as Arab?" Who identifies as Arab? We are talking about refugees from Syria. It is a very specific place, with a very specific problem. You are the only one here who apparently decided to make this about race. Come on, Senator, no one cares about Arabic science and European witch hunts a thousand years ago. Today there is war in Syria and terror in Europe. That is the point, Senator! I know you served in the Middle East. I did too, and for a lot longer. I saw buddies blown to shreds by IEDs put down by these kinds of people. I don't know if you remember their faces, Senator, but I do. You can throw out a bunch of insults and rhetoric about how we're being "backwards" and so terrible, but Senator, we just want to protect the people."

[Argentarino]

"Mr. President?

I'd like to remind my colleague that it was the author of this bill who made it about race. And I will warn the Senator not to make accusations regarding my service. We fought in the same war and saw the same things. I'd expect better from a fellow veteran, but clearly I expected too much from my colleague. And protect the people? From who, the men, women, and children fleeing a bloody civil war and terrorist insurgency? You think we can't find out if a terrorist might be trying to come to the US as a refugee? It is clear the Senator is woefully ignorant, Mr. President. Refugees don't get to choose where they are resettled. Europe is in the situation it is because they're fleeing across the Mediterranean Sea and Turkey's borders, and then have access to the rest of Europe through the Schengen Agreement. But as for potential threats posed by refugees, it is a bullcrap argument drawn up from fear. Refugees who apply for resettlement start their journey in a UNHCR refugee camp. They apply for resettlement. They don't decide where they get to go, the UNHCR does. If the UNHCR determines, based on six criteria and potential security concerns through their own screening process, that the applicant should go to the US, our vetting procedures then kick in. These are extensive and can last from a year up to two years, and all that time, they're not in the US! They're at the refugee camp! If you think we're not protecting our people, Senator, I suggest you think again.

"Now, Mr. President, let me address the bill in full, rather than the rambling arguments made by the author, which I will continue to say are soaked in racism and xenophobia. The bill does not take into account that we already have an extensive vetting program for all refugees, and there are additions to that program that Syrian refugees in particular are required to go through. And as I just said, we are not subject to the same threats that Europe is. This bill is not effective, as it tries to approach a problem that we ourselves are not subject to. Once again, I respectfully urge that this bill be defeated."

[Abazhaka]

House Floor

Marril: aye

With all due respect to opposition, Mr. Speaker, I believe stated risks don't outweigh benefits. I can understand these fears but personally am assured. I see it as a legitimate path to citizenship, among many others our country offers.

[Tumblrena]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1306
Friday
July 29
2016

"Mr. President?"

"Senator, can you show me where race is in this bill? I may be getting old, but I think that it is probably you fibbing a little. You are the one that brought race into the mix, Senator, and I don't like it much. This isn't the time to be playing around with your rhetoric and campaign speak. You aren't running for President anymore, so let's get to work, buddy. And we are going to be protecting the people from some of the military-age unmarried Islamic men coming from Syria. I don't know how much attention you paid out there Senator, but those are the people that were shooting at us and blowing up our boys, and some of them are bad eggs."

"And I didn't fight in the same war as you, Senator. You got a little taste of Iraq, I know. I was there for the invasion, and I was there for a full tour in the 'Stan. I've been deployed to Panama and Bosnia, gone on missions in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and made combat jumps in Albania. I've seen a lot, Senator, and I don't much appreciate you deciding to call me a racist and a xenophobe because I don't want the good people here to experience what we went through."

"Now if you want to step down off your high horse and talk about vetting, then we can really talk. We need to work on vetting in other areas than just refugees, areas like travel visas, which can be easier for a terrorist to get. I think we can work on that. But this bill that you say is all about racism and xenophobia, Senator, all it says is that they go through that proper screening that you're talking about. I don't see why you have a problem of making sure these people have their backgrounds checked before coming here. So maybe you can stop screaming about backwardsness and xenophobia and all those other campaign catchwords and talk with people rather than at them, yeah?"

[The Jaclean Empire]

"Mr. President?

It is clear that this bill is not derived from fact or even misplaced concerns for our national security. Rather, it is derived off of blatant ignorance and, dare I say, a fear of those who identify as Arab. To this day, there have been no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil by refugees, and the same can be said in Europe. The Senator from Missouri seems to forget we have a whole ocean separating us from the conflict, so a mass migration 'as seen in Europe' is quite impossible. It is clear that the Senator, despite saying he is aware of the process, is really not. Other than the process that was laid out, there is no tenable way for a mass influx of refugees to the United States to occur. Mr. President, the Senator is peddling irrational fear, fear of a people he does not understand. We have numerous communities in our country who come from the Middle East and Northern Africa, and they are loyal citizens. They pay their taxes, they obey our laws, they serve in our law enforcement and military communities. In fact, as is the case for refugees here and in Canada, they have done their part to give back to the community that they are now a part of. Some refugees start their own businesses, bringing back life and commerce to small towns and neighborhoods that were struggling under the Recession.

"However, Mr. President, it is clear that these facts, the facts that show the human and benign side of refugees, will probably have no impact on the author of this backward piece of legislation. For, in his own words, his concern is the possible death of 'Western culture.' Mr. President, I had similar views once, when I was in the Army, before I got to Iraq. A lot of us did. We didn't understand the people we were being sent to fight, we didn't understand the culture, the history, the language, and quite frankly, not a lot of us cared. But in Iraq, all of those notions, those misplaced fears that the Senator now preaches to us, were put to shame. When we Westerners were burning scientists at the stake for witchcraft, the Arabs were making progress in medicine, astrology, mathematics, literature, art. And the Iraqis I met were proud of that culture, that heritage. I'm not going to defend the actions of Arab governments that let abuses happen from under their noses, but I can tell you for sure that not every Arab man, woman, and child acts or feels that way, and despite the Senator's cries of 'I'm not being discriminatory,' well, Mr. President, what else would he call painting people with a broad brush for the actions of a horrible few?

"What the Senator fails to mention, by the way, about the events in Cologne, is this: an American tourist, a Ms. Caitlin Duncan, was one of those women who were attacked in Cologne that evening. She went to the police, however, as they were trying to control the crowd, they pushed her back in it. Scared, separated from her boyfriend, and attacked again by a different group of men, a group of Syrian refugees came to her aid. In her story to the Independent, she states that a group of Syrian refugees offered to help her. They 'formed a protective cordon around Ms. Duncan to help her through the crowd, offered to phone her boyfriend and searched for him with her when she could not remember his number.' Ms. Duncan was reunited with her boyfriend, and to this day, she keeps in touch with one of the Syrians who rescued her, a brave young man named Hesham Ahmad Mohammad. Mr. Mohammad was approached by the New York Times and told them that he was also frightened by the groups committing the attacks, saying they had 'lost their minds' on drink and drugs. He said further: “We keep hearing news about refugees all day: ‘They are bad people, they must go back to their home'...When I hear that in the news, I am sad. Because we know that there were bad boys and bad people. But the good people, nobody speaks about them.”

"Mr. President, this is a shamefully xenophobic and ignorant piece of legislation. It does not take into account the fact that we already have an extensive and comprehensive vetting program for refugees who apply to for resettlement from a secondary country, and it shamefully depicts all Middle Eastern peoples as ignorant or unwilling to abide by Western laws and norms. I wonder, if the Senator from Missouri were to visit Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, or the UAE, would he hold himself up to the same standards he is holding these refugees and migrants to? Or would he refuse to pay respect to the culture of his guests? Quite frankly, Mr. President, judging from his statements on the floor, I think we already know the answer to that question. Mr. President, I strongly urge all of my colleagues, Republican, Democrat, and Independent, to vote against this poor excuse of a bill."

"I must admit it is a very poor piece of legislature that needs much review and revision to be passed, but the point is the same. We do have people from the middle east in our country, many of whom are in my state of missouri. And I love those people, I love all those people, and I love all people. I do not bring my concerns over the refugees to light because of my blind xenophobia. However the people in our country are very different than the people flooding Europe. They are families, people who came to the US for opportunities and a better life. They aren't unmarried, childless men, who come to Western nations for benefits and hand outs. It brings me tears and breaks my heart when people hate all Arabs because of the actions of some. But most of these "refugees", which is a very broad term as most of them are simply migrants or people seeking asylum. And I do not fear these people because they are Arab, you wish to paint me as an evil racist who hates the brown man. A white Christian who comes from a country where "taharush" the rape game is common, will probably also like to participate. It is not the people I blame for their actions, it is the culture. And meaning no offense to you, I do not want a culture of rape and violence in my nation. I love the fact that ms duncan was rescued by refugees, nothing brings my old heart more satisfaction than to be shown and proven right that not all of these people are bad. But because one group of men were good on new years eve, does that mean the other 2,000 who sexually assaulted women weren't bad? Or that is racist to notice that hey, maybe somethings up when 2,000 men who all come from the same or similar cultures go around sexually assaulting and robbing people? If millions of Italian men poured into Austria, and went around raping and looting and rioting and murdering, and remained unemployed and living off state benefits, would it be wrong for Austrians to be fearful of them, even if some of them werent doing these things? Or would it be alright because Italians aren't brown or Muslim? I am going to simply ignore your statements painting the west as some evil stupid group in history and painting the Arab world as more advanced and tolerant. Because these statements are simply uneducated and are lack in historical reference. But it has come to my attention that besides the fact that such a numerous amount of these migrants prove every point I've made by raping, rioting, and protesting the lack of benefits and lack of similarity that western culture brings to them. You, and your cult of white guilt, refuse to believe that it is possible for people who are Arab to do bad things. And instead blame racism, and white people for being weary of letting in millions of people who have personally proven that they are not the kind of people our nation wishes to take in. I am not stating that all the people who have come in the migrant crisis are bad, to say so would be stupid and wrong. But a great many, and in fact a majority of them are. And the risk is too great to let in these people without vetting, which while our nation does have an extensive vetting process I would like to expand upon it greatly. Fellow senators, and Americans. I know it is difficult to accept the horrible truth, but we must look out for our nation. And use our minds before we use our hearts."

[The Jaclean Empire]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1310
Thursday
July 21
2016

(Image)

Senator, you implement extreme vetting. Why are you setting an artificial limit if you have that?

"The artificial limit is set so that we don't claim we're going to let in an unvettable amount of migrants. As in, so we don't say we're going to take in 5,000,000 migrants. As such a number would be near impossible to thoroughly vet. I have however in my thoughts sought to greatly loosen my ideas on having such a low limit and think it in turn can be grown immensely to a base point of around 20,000. The problem with the migrant crisis is not the people who are actual refugees who start the process from the beginning, but the much more numerous group of people who just pour into Europe. These people are still branded as "refugees" which is why I have refrained from using the term and have instead used "migrants"."

[Tumblrena]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1312
Friday
July 25
2016

Senator Villanueva de Peña responded. "That doesn't change the limit being redundant. We don't need a limit, just have a "limit" of how many people we can screen, and you're fine."

[The Jaclean Empire]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1312
Friday
July 25
2016

(Image)

Senator Villanueva de Peña responded. "That doesn't change the limit being redundant. We don't need a limit, just have a "limit" of how many people we can screen, and you're fine."

"I must agree with you. Your idea is much better."

[Tumblrena]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1312
Friday
July 25
2016

"Then Mr. President, I move to amend the bill, to strike the language setting a limit on the number of refugees."

[Tectonix]

"I second the motion, Mr. President. However, I call upon the Senator to disclose the exact portion of the bill she wishes to remove. She and I may know what it is; I just want there to be procedural clarity so as to not cause potential future strife and confusion."

[Tumblrena]

Washington D.C.
United States Senate
1314
Friday
July 25
2016

"I would move to strike the phrase "no more than 5,000", the words "and would" following "migrants" and the words "accept them" after "only.""

[Tectonix]

"Thank you, Senator. Nothing further."

[The Fair Republic]

"Mr. President, I have a question about Section Two of the American Safety Act. Just where exactly are there safe communities in Syria? The eastern part of the country, including the city of Palmyra is controlled by the Islamic State. The western half of the country is in a state of constant fighting including the humanitarian crisis currently underway in Aleppo. Homs is close to ISIS' borders and Damascus is heavily militarized due to the war. The north of Syria is controlled by the Kurds. While they have been invaluable allies in combating ISIS, they won't be exactly willing to accept large amounts of internal refugees. According to the UN, 6.3 million people have been internally displaced since the start of the conflict. Section Two makes no practical sense and I would need to see that provision removed before I could consider voting for the bill.

[Prolieum]

Senate Floor

"Without objection, the amendment is added to the bill."

House Floor

"With the vote tallied, the act is passed, to sent to the desk of the President with the recommendation that it be signed."

"The House will now take up again the "Resolution to label Bashar Al-Assad a dictator." The floor is open to debate and motions."

[Chewion]

Senate

Clark stood up and said "Mr. President,

I request to be added to the speakers list."

[Prolieum]

Senate Floor

"Without objection, then, we will move to create a speakers' list."

"In opposition, or support of the bill, Senator?"

[Chewion]

Senate Floor

"Without objection, then, we will move to create a speakers' list."

"In opposition, or support of the bill, Senator?"

"Support."

[Prolieum]

Senate Floor

"The floor is yours, Senator."

[Chewion]

"Mr. President,

While this bill may not be perfect at least it is something. The refugee issue is already massive and only grows with each day. We cannot and must not let in hundreds of thousands of refugees at once do to the strain on our vetting system. This bill provides us with a good solution that can work. Thank you."

[Tectonix]

"Point of information, Mr. President?"

[Prolieum]

Senate Floor

"Granted"

[Vaquas]

United States House of Representatives

Representative Yang: "Mr. Speaker, Seeing as there is no objection to or questioning regarding the bill I would motion to move to the previous question."