House Republican leaders have announced a new legislative proposal aimed at boosting national security by changing the nation’s visa waiver program, and said the bill would get a vote by next week.
A counterterrorism task force made up of Republican committee chairman announced the bill on Thursday, and predicted it would pass with an overwhelming and bipartisan vote.
The legislation would end the visa waiver privilege now offered to western passport holders if they have traveled to Iraq, Iran, Syria or Sudan, which are considered breeding grounds for terrorism. Instead, those travelers would have to first apply for a visa before entering the United States, which would require a much higher level of scrutiny than simply entering with a passport.
Dual passport holders from any of the four countries flagged in the legislation would also have to apply for a visa.
“Five thousand Western passport holders have traveled to Iraq and Syria,” Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said when he announced the legislation on Thursday. “This is why we need this.”
The bill comes just weeks after the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, which were carried out by several western passport holders who, McCarthy noted, had cited the ease of travel throughout the European Union.
“It’s a response in many ways to what happened in Paris,” said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas. “Several of the Paris attackers carried Western passports. That is why this legislation is so important. It will strengthen the visa waiver program.”
The visa waiver program currently covers 38 countries whose passport holders can enter the United States and remain here without a visa for 90 days.
“No one is barred from entering the United States,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “You will have to go and apply for a visa.”
McCarthy said he believes President Obama supports the legislation and will sign it.
