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Foxx Report
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When a married couple killed 14 people who were celebrating the holidays in San Bernardino last Thursday, President Obama immediately used this terrible tragedy to renew his call for tougher gun restrictions. Never mind the fact that the shooting took place in California, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, or that authorities quickly determined this rampage was an act of terrorism that appears to have been inspired by the Islamic State.
In a televised address from the Oval Office on Sunday, the president sought to reassure the American people that his administration is taking the threat of terrorism seriously. Sadly the only thing President Obama revealed was that he has no comprehensive strategy to confront and defeat ISIS.
We need more from our commander-in-chief about what can be done —with our military, our intelligence-gathering and our international partners. We are facing a new era of violence and terrorism where danger exists both abroad and on American soil. We must do all that we can to eliminate this extremist threat.
Visa Waiver Program
This week the House passed bipartisan legislation to help the Department of Homeland Security identify and stop terrorists with Western passports from entering the United States through improvements to the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of 38 participating countries to travel to the United States without a visa for stays of 90 days or less when they meet certain requirements.
H.R. 158, the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015, is designed to strengthen the security of the Visa Waiver Program to better ensure that individuals entering the United States through the program are not security risks while also maintaining the program’s ability to facilitate legitimate foreign business travel and tourism.
National security is the number one job of the federal government, and this bipartisan legislation is one step toward reducing the risk that terrorists pose to our nation. We need a comprehensive review of how foreigners gain admittance to the United States – whether through the refugee process, border crossings or visas – so we can take the necessary steps to protect America and her people.
Every Student Succeeds Act
This week President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law. As a grandmother, educator and former school board member, I know students are best served when teachers, parents and administrators are the driving force behind improving education. This legislation does just that by reducing the federal footprint in the nation’s classrooms and restoring control to the people who know their students best.
As I mentioned last week, this legislation incorporates provisions of both the House-passed Student Success Act and the Senate-passed Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 and gets Washington out of the business of running schools. It protects state and local autonomy by prohibiting the Secretary of Education from coercing states into adopting Common Core and eliminates the burdensome, one-size-fits-all accountability system that has done more to tie up states and school districts in red tape than to support local efforts to educate children.
Supporting and Strengthening the Coast Guard
On Thursday the House passed bipartisan legislation that supports and strengthens the United States Coast Guard, one of our nation’s five armed services, in its critical missions to save lives, safeguard our shores and protect living marine resources. The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015 also addresses our maritime transportation system, which is essential to our economy and instrumental to national security.
What’s Coming Up
Next week the House will consider legislation to fund the government for Fiscal Year 2016 and may consider legislation extending or making permanent provisions of the tax code that are currently temporary and due to expire.
Sincerely,
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