Rep. [crscore]John Katko[/crscore] slammed President Barack Obama for failing to enforce a law passed in December tightening the rules of the country’s Visa Waiver Program — which allows residents of 38 participating countries to stay in the United States for 90 or less days without a visa.
The Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act, which passed in both the omnibus bill and as a standalone measure, now requires those who have traveled the high-conflict countries of Iran, Syria, Sudan or Iraq after 2011, apply for a visa.
“Unfortunately, the administration is now carving loopholes into the law. Last month, the administration announced that it would grant waivers to people engaged in journalism, humanitarian work, or, for people traveling to Iraq or Iran,’legitimate business-related purposes.’ These waivers have no basis in law,” Katko said during Saturday’s weekly Republican address. “In fact, members of Congress explicitly rejected this idea when negotiating the bill with the administration.”
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Republican lawmakers said the law is necessary to prevent terrorists from slipping into the country. Katko said in the interest of national security, they need “at a minimum, the name and nationality of each traveler.”
“I am a former federal prosecutor, and I can tell you a law is only as good as how you enforce it. This is not a time to start lowering our guard,” he continued. “And we should not put Iran’s feelings before America’s security interests.”
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