Statement

On October 30, 2017, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing to discuss the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Yasmine Taeb, FCNL’s Legislative Director for Human Rights and Civil Liberties, submitted the following statement for the record.

On October 24, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order outlining changes to the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program that will cause massive delays and completely halt the acceptance of certain refugee applications. FCNL denounces this latest executive order as a thinly disguised refugee ban which works to dismantle refugee resettlement in the U.S. This executive order replaces the administration’s previous refugee ban that expired on October 24.

FCNL is pleased to announce the introduction of the bipartisan Transparency in Energy Production Act of 2017.

In response to the Trump administration’s announcement of a historically low refugee admissions goal for 2018, more than 120 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the White House calling on the administration to increase the refugee admissions goal from 45,000 to 110,000. Additionally, this letter expresses concern over a proposed “assimilation standard” for refugees.

FCNL welcomes a Hawaii federal judge’s decision to block implementation of President Trump’s travel ban that primarily affects Muslim-majority countries.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation strongly condemns President Trump’s recent executive order to halt federal cost-sharing reduction payments and calls on Congress to pass the bipartisan Alexander-Murray deal.

In a statement made on October 9th by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the Administration will officially repeal the Clean Power Plan.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation congratulates the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for receiving the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

Senators Rand Paul (KY), Brian Schatz (HI), and Ron Wyden (OR) have reintroduced S.1856, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act (SMLA). This bill would prohibit the transfer of deadly military equipment to local police departments from the Pentagon under the 1033 program.

FCNL submitted this statement to the House Committee on Homeland Security, pertaining to the markup of H.R. 3548, the Border Security for America Act.