Fox's Sean Hannity suggested Tuesday that Congress employ "the power of the purse" to defund President Obama's effort to provide safe haven to Syrian refugees, and who was GOP fear mongerer Donald Trump to disagree?
HANNITY: Would you urge them to use that power and defund the president’s efforts to take in these Syrian refugees?
TRUMP: I certainly would….Now we have the House and the Senate. Nothing’s happened. It’s the same exact story in a certain way with all of his executive orders. Obama’s always doing better….I am more disappointed in the Republicans than in the Democrats. At least the Democrats, we know where they’re coming from. The Republicans have done nothing.
It's only a matter of time before some enterprising GOP presidential candidate actually utters the word "shutdown" over this. Perhaps, they have. Trump's certainly pushing in that direction, and Greg Sargent makes a great point about how that plays out on Capitol Hill.
This suggests that we may see a rerun of a familiar script: Republican leaders vow to block an Obama initiative, but ultimately end up falling short, either on the merits or because they don’t have any means of blocking it, disappointing GOP voters who have been riled up into expecting success.
As for The Donald, he's not only blatantly fanning the flames of hysteria on the Syrian refugee crisis, he's lying, per usual, as the Washington Post editorial board notes today.
“OUR PRESIDENT wants to take in 250,000 from Syria,” says Donald Trump, falsely. “Think of it, 250,000 people. And we all have heart, and we all want people taken care of and all of that, but with the problems our country has, to take in 250,000 people — some of whom are going to have problems, big problems — is just insane.”
It is not insane. It is a lie. It is a lie that Mr. Trump repeats, even as fact checkers and reporters point out that it is wrong.
President Obama is hoping to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. next year. We have accepted less than 2,000 thus far over the last four years. Those are the facts. And those numbers are a pittance in the face of a global crisis that has left millions of Syrians without refuge or a place to call home.