Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is seeking the GOP majority’s approval to take up a bill rescinding President Donald Trump’s executive order barring travel and refugee entry from seven Muslim-majority nations.
“I urge my Republican colleagues to help us overturn this wrong-headed and un-American executive order,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech Monday.
The legislation to repeal Trump’s Friday night order was authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In his floor speech, Schumer said 11 Republicans have already spoken against the order, although it’s not clear any of them would vote for Feinstein’s bill.
“I urge them to back up their words with actions,” Schumer said, adding that he spent time this weekend with refugees impacted by the order.
“My guess is if President Trump met some of these refugees, he wouldn’t be so hard-hearted,” Schumer said.
Schumer said Democrats would be willing to collaborate with the GOP on “a better way” to improve vetting of refugees and entrants from the seven countries, which were first flagged as having problems with terrorism by Trump’s predecessor, President Obama. Schumer said the order would be used as a propaganda tool for Islamic State terrorists.
“They want nothing more than to paint the United States as a country at war with Islam,” Schumer said. “The bottom line is, the policy will make us less safe, not more safe. It was poorly constructed and even more poorly executed.”
