We need to get rid of slippery REPUBLICAN Senators like Bob Corker (R-TN)

09/07/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Don’t let letters like this one from Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee (thank God Trump did not choose him as VP) deter you. I’ve been asking all of you to write/call or whatever even if you know your US Senator or Congressmen are losers.
Thanks to a reader for sending this with this comment:

So much for contacting my senators and congressman, there are significant reforms don’t you know which makes everything all right.

Corker has done zip! He is one of the biggest problems we have in the US Senate and here he thinks he can blow you off with throwing the blame onto the Obama administration. Corker and his fellow Republicans in the Senate hold the purse strings. They could cut off Obama’s funding if they wanted to—they don’t want to!

corker-and-obama — Surely Senator Corker is pressing Obama here on the golf course to slow the flow of mostly Muslim refugees to America!

With this letter, he insults his constituents by assuming you know nothing about refugee resettlement. The Visa Waiver program has nothing to do with refugee admissions! And, then he falls back to blame those dastardly Senate Democrats (who are in the minority!) for not getting anything done.
Corker is going to “press the administration!” How about pressing your own leadership namely Mitch McConnell!
Letter from Senator Corker:

Thank you for taking the time to contact my office with your concerns regarding homeland security and the resettlement of refugees in the United States. Your input is important to me, and I appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts.

Like you, I believe there can be no shortcuts when it comes to guaranteeing the safety of the American people, and that protecting American citizens is the most significant responsibility of the United States Senate. In light of recent attacks in the United States and Europe, Congress can and should examine all potential gaps that might allow individuals who pose a security threat to enter our country, including in our refugee and visa programs and at our nation’s border, and resolve these issues in a constructive way to make sure our citizens are protected.

For this reason, I was pleased the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations law included significant reforms to strengthen the visa waiver program, including prohibiting individuals who have traveled to Iraq, Syria, or countries that are state sponsors of terrorism, or are nationals of those countries, from using the visa waiver program to travel to the United States.

As you may know, I also voted to advance H.R. 4038, the American SAFE Act, which would put new requirements on the refugee vetting process for refugees who are nationals or residents of Iraq or Syria, or have been present in those countries at any point since March 2011, the beginning of the Syrian Civil War. Specifically, the FBI Director would have to certify the refugee vetting process, and refugees from these countries, could only be admitted into the United States after the Secretary of Homeland Security, the FBI Director, and the Director of National Intelligence certify that each refugee does not represent a threat to national security. While there was majority support for proceeding to debate this legislation, unfortunately Senate Democrats blocked it from coming to the floor.

Please know, I understand your concerns about the potential security risks from immigrant visa programs, including the resettlement of refugees in the United States. I will continue to use my position in the United States Senate and on the Foreign Relations Committee to press the administration to demonstrate leadership on this issue and protect Americans from all those who seek to do us harm.

Thank you again for your letter. I hope you continue to share your thoughts with me.

Sincerely,

Bob Corker
United States Senator

Are you getting slippery letters like this one, send them my way and I will publish some (can’t promise to publish all if you send me dozens and dozens!).
And to our reader and all of you getting letters like this. Write back and tell them their answer is unsatisfactory and you want to know what he/she is going to do right now on this year’s omnibus—tell them you want the funds cut completely for the Refugee Admissions Program because there has never been a satisfactory answer to the security screening issue. Tell them in fact security screening time has been reduced for Syrians and ask slippery Senators like Corker what he is doing about it!

The federal resettlement contractors plan September 15th postcard dump on Hill

09/06/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The nine major federal resettlement contractors*** which are largely funded by you, the taxpayer, understand the process for getting money (for them) out of your wallets! The millions of dollars they depend on to run offices, pay rent, pay salaries and travel comes from Congress not from passing the plate at worship services or holding fundraising events.

Screenshot (1) — I first told you about the postcard campaign here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2016/08/16/washington-dc-august-28th-rally-for-refugees-planned/

The process works like this: The President sends a “determination” to Congress in late September with how many refugees he wants to be placed in your towns in the coming years. (BTW in earlier years of the program, which is 36 this year, the President sent the determination letter during the summer to give Congress a little more time). But, heck in recent years they sent it almost on October 1st because Congress didn’t care what the President sent, they rubber-stamped the plan and gave him the money without a required hearing.

Obama’s last determination….

Obama will be sending his determination probably after he does his dog and pony show at the United Nations on September 20th and we expect (and will be demanding!) that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees hold hearings on his proposal before October 1 (as required by law). More on that later.
During this month, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will be deliberating about next year’s budget (next year starts on Oct. 1, 2016). What matters will be how much of your money they appropriate for the Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services for the resettlement of Obama’s last refugee wishlist (which will probably come in around 200,000).

The contractors get it!

They understand that their futures depend on this—on how much the Republican Congress gives them!

If they get gobs and gobs of (your) money they will continue to open new offices at newly targeted sites for the expanded number of refugees Obama will propose. If Congress slashes their funds they have to let staff go, and possibly even close offices.

So, they plan a rally and a dump of their postcards on September 15th on Capitol Hill!

Notice they are not focusing on governors, state legislatures, or local elected officials, or on the White House, their lobbying effort is directed at one place right now—Congress. You should be too! (I don’t want to hear how useless they are, the buck stops with them!)

That is not to say you shouldn’t continue pressing all other elected officials at all levels of government since they might in turn put pressure on your US Reps, but now is the time—September!—to do whatever it takes to get your US Senators and Congressmen focused on this one issue!
This is from the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants website (I wrote about them yesterday):

Sign the Postcard: Urge the U.S. to Lead by Example on Refugee Protection & Resettlement

Fill out this form to electronically sign the postcard that is also available for downloading and printing at www.refugeesarewelcome.org/get-involved/. After you sign, encourage your friends, family, coworkers, and social media networks to do the same. You can also print out a few copies to gather signatures at your upcoming events! All signatures must be collected by COB Monday, September 12, 2016. We will deliver all of the postcards together at a press conference in front of the Capitol Building on Thursday, September 15th.

I’ve been writing about this for about 2 weeks, see my tag ‘Where is Congress’ for more background on the Appropriations process and the players, more today and every day going forward.
***These are the nine major resettlement contractors that monopolize all refugee resettlement in America, under them are 350 or so subcontractors:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is 95% funded by taxpayers

09/03/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It has been awhile since I had a look at Form 990s for the nine federal resettlement contractors, so I thought over this weekend I would re-examine their financials especially because I want you all to focus on the fact that it is the Republicans in Congress who have the power to slow the flow of refugees by cutting the funding for certain groups masquerading as Christian and Jewish ‘religious’ NGOs.

Lynda Hartke — LIRS CEO Hartke rakes in nearly a quarter of a million bucks a year (doing well by doing good!).

For all the new readers arriving here, there are nine faux non-profit groups which monopolize refugee resettlement in America. They are US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Episcopal Migration Ministries, World Relief (Evangelicals), Church World Service, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Ethiopian Community Development Council, International Rescue Committee and the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
Under the nine majors are 350 or so subcontractors.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

I’m taking them one by one and going to their most recent available Form 990. This Form 990 for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is for 2014 and was submitted to the IRS in August 2015. (BTW, there are some state Lutheran agencies that are larger than the national organization).
So from page 9 (reproduced below) we learn that:

Total revenue for that year was $59,862,898

Total federal grants were $55,341,275

And, they also received from your money $1,817,755 for a loan service fee.

This $1.8 million is from collecting air fare loans from refugees plane fare to America. The original plane tickets were bought (with your money) by another federal contractor (IOM) and the refugee is supposed to reimburse the American taxpayer. The contractor, here LIRS, is the dunning agency and they get to keep a cut for themselves of everything they wring out of the refugees.
If you go to page 8 of their Form 990 you can see the salaries of the head honchos. Linda Hartke, the CEO made $236,386 which includes income from related activities. There are a total of 6 employees pulling down 6-figure salaries. And, you should know that last I heard they had 2 lobbyists in Washington to assure their (your!) funds keep flowing their way.
Here is page 9:

Screenshot (10)

Note the income from ‘higher training fees’ that could be taxpayer reimbursement as well, but I don’t know that for sure.

So I am giving them the benefit of the doubt when I conclude that they are 95% funded by you—-the taxpayers of America! It could be higher.

Remember! They are not passing the plate on Sunday to pay for their supposed Christian charity!
Go here to see if you have a subcontractor of LIRS at work where you live.
For more details on their federal grants go to USASpending.gov and type in Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and see their hundreds of millions in grants and contracts over the last 8 years or so.

The buck stops with the Republican Congress!

Tell your representatives in Washington starting now, starting on Tuesday morning! to withhold funding for the US Refugee Admissions Program for fiscal year 2017 which begins in 4 weeks—on October 1, 2016! Let these supposed non-profit groups raise private money for their charitable pet projects!

Start targeting House and Senate Appropriations Committees right now!

09/02/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You know I am hammering the issue of funding for the US Refugee Admissions Program. LOL! I am going to be a broken record on it this fall!
Obama is going to the United Nations on September 20th for a PR stunt to make the case that the US should admit 200,000 (give or take a few thousand) refugees for FY2017. The nine federal contractors whose work it is to place them in your towns can’t do it without millions (actually billions!) of your tax dollars.
Congress will deliberate and decide this fall beginning next Wednesday when they get back to work (from a long summer vacation) exactly how much of your money to throw at the refugee program (funding both through the US State Department and Health and Human Services).
Forget Obama, forget Soros, forget the contractors, these should be your targets in the coming weeks…..
If your town gets swamped with needy third worlders and refugees posing a security risk, these elected officials below are to blame!
Republicans control the Congress and that means they control the Appropriations Committees which in turn will make the decision about how many refugees will come to your towns in FY2017 by how much money they appropriate for the federal agencies—Dept. of State and Health and Human Services.

Here are your first targets! Even if you don’t live in the district, but just somewhere in the state, figure out how to get your message to the Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee listed here. Check the Dems too so you know who to yell at (but these are the Rs):

Harold Rogers, Kentucky, Chairman
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey
Robert B. Aderholt, Alabama
Kay Granger, Texas
Michael K. Simpson, Idaho
John Abney Culberson, Texas
Ander Crenshaw, Florida
John R. Carter, Texas
Ken Calvert, California
Tom Cole, Oklahoma
Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida
Charles W. Dent, Pennsylvania
Tom Graves, Georgia
Kevin Yoder, Kansas
Steve Womack, Arkansas
Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska
Tom Rooney, Florida
Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee
Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington
David Joyce, Ohio
David Valadao, California
Andy Harris, MD, Maryland
Martha Roby, Alabama
Mark Amodei, Nevada
Chris Stewart, Utah
Scott Rigell, Virginia
David Jolly, Florida
David Young, Iowa
Evan Jenkins, West Virginia
Steven Palazzo, Mississippi

Here are the Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee who will decide whether or not to fund Obama’s last refugee wish list:

Chairman Thad Cochran (Republican – Mississippi)
Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican – Kentucky)
Senator Richard Shelby (Republican – Alabama)
Senator Lamar Alexander (Republican – Tennessee)
Senator Susan Collins (Republican – Maine)
Senator Lisa Murkowski (Republican – Alaska)
Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican – South Carolina)
Senator Mark Kirk (Republican – Illinois)
Senator Roy Blunt (Republican – Missouri)
Senator Jerry Moran (Republican – Kansas)
Senator John Hoeven (Republican – North Dakota)
Senator John Boozman (Republican – Arkansas)
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (Republican – West Virginia)
Senator Bill Cassidy (Republican – Louisiana)
Senator James Lankford (Republican – Oklahoma)
Senator Steve Daines (Republican – Montana)

And, don’t forget Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (who you see has an even more powerful role in your town’s future as both Majority Leader and second in seniority on the Appropriations Committee).

Texas appealing decision on lawsuit seeking to stop refugees being placed in Texas

09/02/2016 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A judge earlier dismissed the governor’s lawsuit saying the state had no authority to stop the flow of refugees to the state. Apparently the governor will appeal. However…..
If the political powers in Texas really wanted to stop the resettlement of refugees in Texas, they would start by getting powerful Senators and Members of Congress doing something in Congress this fall—cut the funding for it! And, then demand reform during the period the funds have been cut (either completely or to a level that would only admit a tiny fraction of the worst cases).

Where is Senator Ted Cruz on this? He could lead a campaign to cut the funds this fall in the Senate. And, in the House, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions is in an important seat as Chairman of the Rules Committee. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. And, then of course the brave Texas Congressman Brian Babin is the chief architect of a bill that seeks to halt the program until certain investigations regarding costs and security take place.

So if the Texas governor is serious, he needs to bring together key players in the Texas delegation to get something done now, for FY2017 in the budget and appropriations process! We know where the buck stops on all of this—in Congress and not with the governors.

Here is the lawsuit news from CBS Austin:

Texas is appealing the dismissal of its lawsuit against the federal government and a refugee resettlement agency over the placement of Syrian refugees in the state.

McCaul as chairman — As chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, McCaul has spoken up about the dangers of unvetted refugees. So, what is he doing about it when they are being placed in his home state?

In a notice dated Aug. 12, Texas alerted the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that it would appeal a June decision by Dallas-based U.S. District Judge David Godbey, who ruled the state did not have grounds to sue the federal government over the placement of refugees in Texas and that the state failed to provide a “plausible claim” that a refugee resettlement nonprofit breached its contract.

Representatives with the Texas attorney general’s office, which is representing the state in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Texas first filed suit in December against the federal government and the International Rescue Committee — one of about 20 private nonprofits that have a state contract to resettle refugees in Texas — in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 dead. Following those attacks, Texas’ Republican leaders raised concerns about the refugee vetting process, and Gov. Greg Abbott in November directed resettlement nonprofits in Texas to halt the resettlement of any Syrian refugees.

But the federal government warned Texas it did not have the power to reject Syrian refugees, and the International Rescue Committee’s Dallas branch informed the state it would continue aiding Syrian refugees placed in Texas.

Continue here.
Don’t get me wrong, this effort in the courts is important to continue the pressure and to educate the public, but the power to stop the flow of unwanted refugees rests with the REPUBLICAN Congress (with the power of the purse) and in my opinion many of those we sent to Washington to represent us are hiding on this issue (and others too of course)!
I know, I know, you all are so disillusioned with Congress and think they are useless, but it is still very very important for you to know that the Republican Congress is responsible for what is happening to your towns. There is no sense screaming at, or about, Obama, but it is important to point a finger at who really is responsible!
One of the many good things Donald Trump said in his fantastic speech on immigration the other night is that legal immigration programs that have gone on for decades will be reviewed in a Trump administration. Folks, this Refugee Admissions Program is 36 years old and has never been seriously reviewed or reformed! It is way past time!