Pin It
capitalbuilding 120Tom Reed supported a bill which he says aims to increase security requirements for international travelers.

"I care about keeping America secure. We are working together to ensure that ISIS does not exploit our security loopholes to engage in terror attacks on our homeland," said Reed. "It's only right that we put the security of the American people first and take every precaution to ensure our safety and that means tightening security around the world."

The House will take up a bill to close a security loophole in the United States' Visa Waiver program and encourages international governments to share security information across the globe to help stop terrorisms from spreading to the United States.

The Visa Waiver program allows residents from over 38 nations, including France and Germany, to travel to the United States by using enhanced background checks but does not require that individuals to go to a U. S. Consulate to obtain a visa prior to traveling to the U.S. In turn, United States citizens are also allowed to travel to these countries under an easier process, ultimately reducing the amount of preparation time needed for international travel.

The bill comes as a new report that indicates over 5,000 European citizens, many of which reside in countries that participate in the Visa Waiver program with the United States, traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight with terrorists groups like ISIS, causing alarm among security officials and Congress.

"This is a common sense approach to keeping terrorists out of our country. Our allies have felt the pain and loss following terrorist attacks, whether it was the recent attacks in Paris, the underground bombing in London in 2005 or the train bombing in Madrid in 2004, we all know how terrible these events really are. That is why we must band together to defeat ISIS and this is a simple step we can take in that process," said Reed.

The bill would also ban anyone who traveled to Iraq, Syria, Iran or Sudan since March 2011 from traveling to the United States without additional screening regardless of where they currently live.

The legislation now goes onto the Senate for additional consideration.

v11i47
Pin It