Sen. Jeff Flake to introduce bill in light of Paris attack

The measure is far from becoming law, but it has the potential to disrupt a multi-billion-dollar tourism industry and could set back ties with Europe even as Washington vows greater counterterrorism cooperation with its allies.

“Not only are these two priorities not mutually exclusive, they are actually interdependent”, Murphy said. The militant group claimed credit for the attacks in Paris, which left 129 people dead. “So the bill we would propose would strictly limit that”.

Concern about the visa waiver program, on the other hand, has taken on a less partisan tone. Under the visa waiver program, citizens from certain European countries can enter the USA for 90 days without a visa.

The program is now open to United States citizens, permanent residents, and nationals from a small number of countries like Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands.

“I think there’s bipartisan support that could be found for changes to the visa waiver program in a way it likely won’t be found on a prohibition on refugees from the Syrian conflict”, Murphy said.

“How are we going to figure out who these people are, that are basically haters of modern civilization, unless there’s a program?” he said.

The visa waiver program “is the soft underbelly of our national security policies”, Sen.

Since last week’s terrorist assaults in Paris, American lawmakers have focused largely on limiting the resettlement of refugees, arguing in that terrorists might hide amongst these fleeing Syrian violence, lie their means via an 18- to 24-month screening process, & be allowed into the U.S. However after rising from an intelligence briefing Wednesday., with a Home bill on refugees set for a presidential veto if it passes, senators stated they’ve an much more pressing concern: visa waivers. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she intends to introduce legislation Thursday – along with Sen.

And it’s certainly not just Republicans, libertarianish or otherwise, getting on board.

The Visa Waiver program has undergone many reforms since 9/11 (this Congressional Research Service paper from 2014 gives a thorough overview), and it’s possible that the current bluster will lead to more helpful things, such as better information-sharing between participating governments about their terrorist watchlists.

Schumer’s prominent role at Thursday’s conference was particularly notable, given that he angered fellow Democrats, including administration officials, earlier this week by indicating that he was open to restrictions on refugee admittance. The part where people on the Federal Bureau of Investigation terrorist watch list can buy guns.

But visa questions did also come up at a Senate Republican lunch Wednesday, where Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the Senate’s third-ranking Republican, said on Wednesday.