At least they should support any effort in the lame duck session of Congress coming up a week after the election to defund the program until certain problems have been resolved—primarily the weak screening process—and to pause the program as a new administration comes into office in the new year.
Don’t forget, the Obama Administration is working quickly right now tofront end the huge flow of refugees Obama wants for FY17.
Here is what I said in September and it still applies (with updates!):
In my previous post I told you that it is not too late to tell key members of Congress to protect your towns by cutting funding in the Final Budget for FY2017 for refugee admissions for 2017 from terror-producing regions of the world and elsewhere which must be passed before Congress recesses for Christmas.
This is the House calendar as it stands right now. Check out how little they actually work! They will be back on the 14th of November and the 2017 Budget must be done by December 9th. And, btw, the 2017 fiscal year began on October 1st, so they are already way behind (as usual)!
Those crossed off signed on to the earlier Babin/Brat letter but be sure to contact them again to urge them to join a new effort in November.
Again, those crossed off below have already taken a brave position, but focus your calls on all Freedom Caucus members. Tell them to check in with Rep. Brian Babin’s (R-TX) office to see what the plan is for the lame duck.
Only 13 days left before the election to get a commitment from them!
Jim Jordan of Ohio, Chair Justin Amash of Michigan Brian Babin of Texas Rod Blum of Iowa Dave Brat of Virginia Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma Mo Brooks of Alabama Ken Buck of Colorado Curt Clawson of Florida Warren Davidson of Ohio Ron DeSantis of Florida Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee Jeff Duncan of South Carolina John Fleming of Louisiana Trent Franks of Arizona Scott Garrett of New Jersey Louie Gohmert of Texas Paul Gosar of Arizona Morgan Griffith of Virginia Andy Harris of Maryland Jody Hice of Georgia Walter Jones of North Carolina Steve King of Iowa Raúl Labrador of Idaho Barry Loudermilk of Georgia Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming Mark Meadows of North Carolina Alex Mooney of West Virginia Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina Gary Palmer of Alabama Steve Pearce of New Mexico Scott Perry of Pennsylvania Ted Poe of Texas Bill Posey of Florida Keith Rothfus of Pennsylvania Matt Salmon of Arizona Mark Sanford of South Carolina David Schweikert of Arizona Marlin Stutzman of Indiana Randy Weber of Texas Ted Yoho of Florida
Don’t know who your Congressman is, click hereand put in your zipcode.
This is the third in a series of posts on DEFUNDING the Refugee Admissions Program in the FY2017 Budget. See Texas, here and Idaho,here. All posts on this topic are tagged ‘where is Congress.’
This is another in my series on Congress and the budget process as it relates to the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program (RAP). See Texas last week, here.
Simpson represents Idaho’s 2nd District which wikipediadescribes below:
In addition to Boise….
Other major cities in the 2nd district include Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Twin Falls, and Rexburg. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a strong presence in the district; a member of the LDS Church has represented this district continuously since 1951. [See our recent postabout the increasing role of the Mormon church in resettlement of third worlders to America—ed]
Rep. Mike Simpson has been in Idaho politics since 1980. He could help reform the Refugee Admissions Program if he had a will to do so. If I lived in the district I would be researching which industries looking for cheap immigrant labor support his campaign. You should know that on Conservative Reviews Liberty Score card, Simpson has an ‘F’ https://www.conservativereview.com/scorecard?MyMembers=false&state=ID&sort=Score&order=Descending&page=1&pageSize=50
Regular readers know that Boise and Twin Falls are major resettlement sites in Idaho with large numbers of Muslim refugees arriving to work in places like the Chobani yogurt plant (go herefor our huge archive on Idaho).
A recent article at Magic Valley reports on Rep. Simpson’s views on many issues including immigration (he supports ‘comprehensive immigration reform’, aka amnesty, because he says we need workers).
And then here is a standard squishy response on arguably one of the hottest issues in Idaho—refugee resettlement in Boise and Twin Falls.
What are your views on the refugee resettlement program and on accepting refugees from the Middle East, and from Syria in particular? Do you support making any changes to the program or the vetting process? Should we be letting in more refugees? Fewer refugees?
I continue to support the American principle that we will not return a foreign national to a country where his or her life or freedom would be threatened based on their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. That being said, I am still concerned about the current vetting process, in particular for refugees from Syria, and I will continue to support efforts to strengthen that process. The real issue is that this Administration has not been able to effectively communicate to the American people that they can keep us safe. To regain our trust, the State Department and Department of Homeland Security must communicate a clear plan for the screening of Syrian refugees that is stringent and thorough enough to ensure those entering the United States will do no harm.
His answer demonstrates the usual dodge—it’s the Obama Administration’s fault for not communicating clearly how they will keep us safe. And, no answer to the question of more refugees!
He doesn’t tell you that as the 5th in seniority (he has been in Congress for 18 years!) on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, he is in the catbird seat to do something about security screening of Syrians.
(Simpson is not a member of the House Freedom Caucus nor did he support Rep. Brian Babin’s efforts to cut the funding for the RAP earlier this fall, see here.)
And, what does he mean by “not return a foreign national.” This isn’t a question of sending someone back, it is a question of bringing them in in the first place!
Again, it is about the money! He could be working to cut the funding for the program until the security screening (the vetting process) is made safe. Washington representatives like Mike Simpson want you to think it is the Democrats in the White House and the agencies—DOS and Homeland Security—who need to do their jobs. But, in reality he has more power than they do, because he is one of the key members of Congress holding the purse strings! He just doesn’t want his voters to know that!
Ironically he says this about the budget process on his website:
It is important for Americans to understand how the federal appropriations process works so that they can advocate for responsible federal spending.
On that he and I agree and that is why I am hounding you all, if you really want to try to get the RAP under control, get it reformed or stopped altogether, you too must understand the appropriations and budget process.
So what do you do if you live in Rep. Mike Simpson’s district?
There is only one thing you can do to slow this flow (besides electing Donald Trump) which at this rate would bring around 20,000 Syrians to America by next fall and that is to persuade your member of Congress and US Senators to DEFUND the program in the lame duck Budget debate coming in November.
Simpson and other members could stop or slow the flow using their power of the purse!
See the first in a series of posts on the lame duck budget process by clicking here. This is not about Obama! Your Congressional Representatives have the power to rein this in if they wanted to (and they don’t want you to know that they have that power!).
You have 15 days before election day to get a commitment from your Washington, DC representatives to DEFUND!
Citizens concerned about the impact of refugees on the 2nd District of Idaho must haunt Simpson’s campaign for those 15 days! Frankly, you might be better off with a new representative, no matter what party, but with no power, than a powerful Republican member like Simpson not working for you, but against you.
And, don’t forget Idaho’s US Senators and other Congressman. There are only 4 total members of the Idaho delegation, here.
All of our posts on the Congressional budget process are tagged: where is Congress.
This is the first in a series of posts I will be writing in the coming weeks haranguing readers and all those concerned with the rapidly expanding UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program (RAP).
Although it is wonderful to see and hear about all the great things you are doing to educate the public and pressure your local and state officials about problems you see with the RAP, but frankly there is only one place (besides electing Donald Trump) where you should be putting most of your energy over the coming weeks.
Keep it simple! DEFUND the Refugee program!
Use all of your local action to pressure your Member of Congress and US Senators to DEFUND the RAP on the final budget vote which must happen by December 9th.
At right is the House of Representatives calendar for the remainder of the year (subject to change, as they say, post election). There is little time!
The Obama Administration has said they want 110,000 refugees (20,000-30,000 will be Syrian Muslims) admitted to the US by September 30, 2017. If the Dept. of State (DOS) and the ORR (in Health and Human Services) do not have the money for that many, they will not be able to bring in that vast number. It is that simple.
The present Continuing Resolution has the program funded at the 2016 level (which is not enough money for 110,000 either).
Go Texas!
Already the state has shown that the will of the people is to not bring in more refugees (based on Governor Abbott’s strong stanceon the program). However, the DOS and the federal resettlement contractors there are thumbing their noses at the governor and have made Texas once again the top resettlement state in the nation this fiscal year already, see here. Make no mistake! This is about turning the red state blue! Tell your member of Congress to follow Texas Rep. Brian Babin’s lead to defund the Refugee Admissions Program.
A few weeks ago, relentless and brave Rep. Brian Babin made an attempt to cut the funding for the RAP on the Continuing Resolution with this letter and with a visit to the House Rules Committee seeking a rider for that CR. Rules did not grant him his request.
However, we expect to see another effort by Dr. Babin on the looming FY2017 Budget right after the election.
We are told that he is committed to seeking out every opportunity to defund the refugee program, including in any must-pass budget legislation, and will be looking for other Members of Congress to join him in this effort. All of you must go to your Congressman right now in the weeks before the election and pressure them to support any effort by Congressman Babin to rein-in the program.
However, in our first in a series of posts, it is members of the powerful Texas delegation that are critical to this effort. Before I get to the Texas targets….
I can’t emphasize enough that by controlling the flow of money for costly resettlement, it consequently reduces the number to be resettled. At present the Administration is working overtime to get as many refugees resettled before Inauguration Day in January. If Hillary wins they will have a jump on possibly an even greater flow (she will use emergency powers) for the remainder of the year (assuming they get $$$ out of Congress). If Donald Trump wins it will likely take a few months to slow the flow because he will have to get his people placed, especially in the State Department where Anne Richard would have to be gone ASAP. I anticipate there will be much screaming and crying that there are thousands of refugees in the pipeline and it would be heartless to stop the flow especially if Congress has granted them a huge budget for FY2017. So, it all comes back to Congress and funding!The House of Representatives is most important, but you must reach your Senators too!
Although they might like to stay in the shadows, here are the key members of the House that Texas patriots must target in coming weeks! These are some of the most important REPUBLICAN members with the power to rein-in the program! House Appropriations Committee members from Texas:
Kay Granger
John Culbertson
John Carter
House Judiciary Committee members (some of these are already friendly to our concerns) from Texas (Judiciary Committee has oversight responsibility for the RAP):
Lamar Smith
Louie Gohmert
Ted Poe
Blake Farenthold
John Ratcliffe
House Rules Committee members from Texas:
Pete Sessions (Chairman!)
Michael Burgess
House Homeland Security Committee members from Texas (because more than perhaps others, these members understand the security risks):
Michael McCaul (Chairman!)
Lamar Smith
Will Hurd
John Ratcliffe
Do you see how important Texas members of Congress are? Those are the members above and also Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn who have the real power to slow the flow of refugees to Texas and to America!
Call on Cruz and Cornyn to follow Rep. Brian Babin’s initiative to defund the program on the Senate side.
See all of those above on the campaign trail and make sure they get the message from you before they return to Washington on November 14th! If you don’t live in Texas, keep pressure on your member (and on Speaker Paul Ryan!) to back Rep. Babin. In the coming days and weeks we will have more targets in other states. Stay tuned!
For more posts about Congress budgetary role, go to our tag ‘Where is Congress’
Call home Paul Ryan! This outrageous “savings” program is one of many, you as Speaker of the House, need to investigate! Speaker Paul Ryan has shown zero interest in reforming the Refugee Act of 1980. I wonder could we suggest Janesville (his home town) as one of the many new resettlement sites in America!
I’m guessing this is not an isolated case.
For new readers, Speaker Paul Ryan has not allowed any serious Refugee Act reform bills (he allowed one sham bill because he knew the Senate wouldn’t pass it anyway) to move forward in the House during his tenure as speaker and for that matter neither has Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
These so-called ‘Individual Development Accounts’ are an abomination and potentially rife with fraud. When taxpayers learn about them (we have mentioned them on many occasions) they are shocked.
The federal government actually gives grants to non-profit refugee agencies to administer a program which allows refugees to get matching funds when they save money for four things (Education, business, home or car).
How would you like to get such a deal:
For every dollar a refugee saves, he/she is matched a dollar out of the US Treasury (your pocket)!
But, again the program is managed by a resettlement contractor (with no accountability to the taxpayer) like this one in Milwaukee. Financial audits/investigations of the contractors are rare.
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (hat tip: Joanne):
A Milwaukee nonprofit that offers after-school programs for refugee children and other assistance for refugees is under investigation for alleged misuse of federal funds.
The Pan-African Community Association gave money to at least 32 people who were not eligible to receive funds, investigators with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement have found, according to records obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Ethiopian Community Development Council is one of nine federally funded refugee contractors that could not exist without your tax dollars. Go to this link to see if they have an office near you: http://www.ecdcus.org/Where_We_Work/affiliates.html
In addition, the organization violated terms of federal grants by spending more than 35% of its annual budget on administrative costs and paying individuals in the form of money orders, rather than paying vendors directly for items purchased, the reports state.
The association received more than $440,000 in federal funds from 2012 to 2015 to help refugees from Africa and around the world buy cars and houses and to open businesses in Milwaukee. Using Individual Development Accounts, the program was designed to offer matching grants to refugees who, for example, saved at least $2,000 of their own money to go toward the purchase of a car or $4,000 toward a house.
[….]
The Pan-African Community Association is contracted through the “preferred communities program,” with the Ethiopian Community Development Council. The council, in turn, is one of about 10 [nine actually—ed] national organizations— mostly faith-based — that the federal government contracts with to provide services to refugees.
Continue here for more of the gory details and denials.
I haven’t written about “preferred communities” since here in 2014. But, you might have a look and see if your city is one of them. They don’t change often.
Call Congress!
Time to listen to ‘Mom for Trump’ (I am not going to quit trying to persuade you that right now there is only one place to put pressure to slow the flow of third worlders to your towns—Congress!):
Ann, could you tell all your readers on a daily basis to call our useless Congress @ 202 224 3121 and have them say DEFUND REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM. I call daily and if enough of us do so, we can make a difference.
If you have problems getting a live person on the phone when you call Washington (like I did when I called my Congressman John Delaney (D-MD) the other day), then find out the locations and phone numbers of their district and state offices and call those. When you have someone on the phone on Tuesday (they surely won’t be there on Monday), in addition to telling them to defund the program, find out where your member or Senator will be in the coming weeks and be there! Ask (in person, in front of an audience) if he or she will Defund the Refugee Resettlement Program when they get back to DC after the election.
Update October 8th: Up to 900 a day by later in week, see here at Breitbart.
It wasn’t hard to guess that as he leaves office (and fears build of a Trump presidency), Obama will make an outrageous last ditch effort to open the flood gates to refugees from across the globe and most especially from Muslim-dominated countries. Expect to see unheard of numbers before Inauguration day in January. Seventh District US Congressional Republican, Dave Brat understands what the stakes are as Congress cedes its budget power to Obama on refugee program.
Michael Leahy writing at Breitbart this morning has done the math and it is simply stunning! The flood has begun in the first week of the fiscal year!
It is no wonder, as I told Leahy, that the US State Department is scrambling to get dozens of NEW resettlement offices up and running!
Four hundred and eleven refugees have been resettled in the United States each of the first five days of the fiscal year that began on October 1. At this rate, the country is on track to resettle more than 150,000 refugees in the fiscal year, a rate almost double the 84,995 resettled in FY 2016, and more than 40,000 greater than the 110,000 the Obama administration has proposed for FY 2017.
A total of 2,058 refugees from all countries have been resettled in the United States during the first five days of FY 2017, according to the Department of State’s interactive website.
This is what I told Breitbart:
“My post from last week shows the monthly admissions of refugees since 2006. The October average is traditionally the lowest resettlement month of the year. One October, 2006, we only brought in 1,009 refugees, more than 1,000 fewer than President Obama has brought in over the first five days of October 2017,” Ann Corcoran, who founded the Refugee Resettlement Watch blog in 2007, tells Breitbart News.
“They build in August and September because they are usually desperate to hit their fiscal year ceiling by then. So to have this extraordinarily high rate this October, it confirms our greatest fear that President Obama will pour as many refugees as he can before he leaves office, and before a potential Trump administration takes the reins,” she adds.
“This explains why the State Department is on a quiet mission to open as many new resettlement sites in the country as they can,” she says.
This Member of Congress gets it! Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) knows that Congress has ceded the power of the purse.
At least one member of Congress says it’s time for the bureaucrats who run the resettlement program to listen to the voice of the people.
“We are losing our country whose sole premise is that we are a nation under the law and that we the people are the true Sovereign we are not ruled from a distant palace,” Virginia Republican Rep. Dave Brat tells Breitbart News.
“This refugee crisis response has not ever been put before the American people and our Congress has also given up any semblance of oversight as we voluntarily cede our control over the entire budget process to the new Sovereign in the executive branch,”Brat adds.
Here comes my message of yesterday, today and tomorrow!
Every one of you in overloaded and stressed resettlement cities, every one of you in new sites,*** every one of you, even if you don’t have refugees, but are worried about the future of our country as we pour people in who are not going to assimilate, who, when their numbers become large enough, are going to push an alternative form of government (shariah), or who might eventually kill us, is looking for a silver bullet to stop the invasion! There is no silver bullet. But, in the next 4 weeks you have to make the refugee issue so TOXIC to your Members of Congress/Senators that they just might grow a spine and exercise their power of the purse and slow the invasion by defunding the Refugee Admissions Program. Nothing else matters right now (well, except electing Donald Trump).
Call your Congressman and your US Senators, but more importantly meet them in their home districts and confront them on this issue. Be at every townhall asking questions. Get local media to pay attention by picketing their offices and their homes if you must!
I know, I know, you think they are hopeless, but you must do it now. Just try or give up now! Here is ‘Mom for Trump’ today! Tell everyone you know to do what ‘Mom’ says! If you hold a meeting about refugees, give everyone who attends the same marching order. ‘Mom’ is right:
Ann, could you tell all your readers on a daily basis to call our useless Congress @ 202 224 3121 and have them say DEFUND REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM. I call daily and if enough of us do so, we can make a difference.
And, I know they are useless too, but call Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell too! While you are calling that switchboard number, ask for Dave Brat’s office and thank him for speaking up, for being a leader on the only issue that really matters for the future of our great nation—immigration control!
The 2016 Presidential election hinges on the issue and that is why Hillary is hiding and rarely brings it up (and won’t say how many refugees she wants!), but why should she when her old pals at the US State Department are working overtime to set the stage for her.
***These are the new towns/cities we have learned about so far (we have heard that there are 47 new ones!). The selection process is mostly done quietly and out of public view. If you are a new reader and are wondering what the hundreds of other sites are, go here (they are no longer keeping this list up to date, more secrecy!).
Asheville, NC
Rutland, VT
Reno, NV
Ithaca, NY
Missoula, MT
Aberdeen, SD
Charleston, WV
Fayetteville, AR
Blacksburg, VA
Pittsfield, MA
Northhampton, MA
Flint, Michigan
Bloomington, IN
