Here is Why America is Less Safe

The stunning White House ransom payments to Iran controversy just gets worse. It turns out payments to the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism wasn’t $400 million but a whopping $1.7 billion.

After first denying the ransom payments, the White House claimed it was merely returning, with interest, Iran’s money from a 1979 military sales order. That’s incredible and reckless. The bottom line: terrorist nations now know kidnapping American troops or citizens is a sure way to finance more terrorism. And that makes us all less safe.

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Bowing to pressure from Europe to take in more Syrian refugees, President Obama has ordered the admission of at least 10,000 more Syrians into the U.S. over the next year. That’s a five-fold increase.

National security officials admit they can’t verify which potential refugees are foreign terrorist travelers and which are not. Yet it’s been nearly a year since the U.S. House passed legislation halting the controversial refugee program until proper security vetting is in place. This common-sense legislation is still stalled in the U.S. Senate. My constituents are asking: What is the Senate waiting for?

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To make matters worse, President Obama says he won’t give our troops the 2.1% raise we passed in the U.S. House. While expanding their deployments, adding missions and releasing terrorists from Guantanamo Bay prison, he will only agree to a 1.6% pay increase.

Mr. President, more than 200 of the nearly 700 released from Guantanamo are either known or suspected of returning to terrorist activity against our U.S. troops. Limiting troop pay while freeing more potential terrorists is exactly why two of three Americans complain our country is on the wrong track.

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Should taxpayers subsidize drug users? Should the White House ignore the 2012 law allowing states to drug test the unemployed to get them job ready? Most Americans answer to both is ‘no’.

So after a frustrating four year battle I’ve waged with the White House over their delays in the law through obstructive regulations, last week I introduced the Ready to Work Act of 2016. My bill immediately implements the current law of the land, allowing states if they choose to screen and test unemployment applicants for drug use if they lost a job due to a drug issue or are seeking a job in an industry that requires a basic, routine drug test – as more than half of all companies do today.

Texas was the first state to volunteer, and even changed state laws to be ready to match willing workers with local jobs. Under my legislation, it will finally get its chance. Everyone knows that if you are unable or unwilling to pass a basic drug test for a job that requires one, then you suffer, your family suffers and so do the businesses looking for good workers.

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On Patriots Day I was honored to join Conroe VFW Post 4709 to commemorate the victims and heroes of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the 15 years since that horrific day, we must never forget the sacrifice of our citizens, our first responders, and military men and women who keep us safe from harm.

Originally published in the Conroe Courier.

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