The House of Representatives has passed a bill tightening visa-free travel to the US following the Paris attacks.
The measures would bar people who traveled to Iraq and Syria after March 2011 from the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).
People who have visited Iran and Sudan – which the US accuses of supporting terrorism – would also need a visa.
The White House-backed bill was proposed because the Paris attackers could have traveled to the US without a visa.
Donald Trump has called for far greater restrictions, proposing that all Muslims be barred from entering the US until further notice.
The Republican presidential candidate’s comments – made after a deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, by Islamist sympathizers – have been condemned by politicians from across the political spectrum.
The House voted 407 to 19 in support of the proposed change to visa-free travel.
“In an abundance of caution, we will now require those individuals to apply for a visa and go through the formal visa screening process,” said House Republican Candice Miller, the bill’s main sponsor.
There are 38 nations currently included in the US VWP.
According to US officials, about 5,000 Europeans, including many from VWP nations, have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight with extremist groups such as ISIS and pose a risk to the US.
If the bill passes through the Senate and is signed into law, it would also require all travelers arriving in the US under the VWP to have electronic passports containing biometric data from next April.
The bill also calls for countries participating in the VWP to share more information about suspected terrorists and criminals.
Dozens of Democrats joined Republicans as the House of Representatives has passed a bill that tightens restrictions on the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, amid security concerns.
The House passed the measure 289-137, in a rebuke to the White House.
President Barack Obama has said he will veto the legislation.
The bill follows the ISIS-led attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead.
Seven of the perpetrators died in the attacks, and one of them is thought to have been a Syrian who entered Europe via Greece with migrants.
The bill still needs to pass the Senate before hitting Barack Obama’s desk.
Photo AP
It would require the head of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to sign off on each refugee as being “not a threat to the security of the United States,” following an FBI background check.
Calling the Paris attacks “a game changer”, Rep Brad Ashford, a Democrat from Nebraska, said: “I cannot sit back and ignore the concerns of my constituents and the American public.”
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he supported the bill because “it is against the values of our nation and the values of a free society to give terrorists the opening they are looking for”.
Others urged compassion for those fleeing the war-torn regions.
“Defeating terrorism should not mean slamming the door in the faces of those fleeing the terrorists,” said Rep Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York.
“We might as well take down the Statue of Liberty.”
Republicans do not have the votes to override Barack Obama’s veto, but say that their affirmative vote in symbolic.
Rand Paul, a senator from Kentucky who is currently running for president, has highlighted a 2011 case in his home state of two Iraqi refugees who schemed to send rifles, missiles and money to al-Qaeda against US troops in Iraqi. They are now imprisoned.
The White House has said that 2,174 Syrians have been admitted to the US since the attacks in September 2001, and noted that none of them has been arrested or deported for terror offences.
Millions of Syrians have fled to neighboring countries and to Europe since the Syrian conflict began about four years ago.
The Obama administration announced in September that it wanted to resettle about 10,000 Syrian refugees in the US by the same time in 2016.
Paul Ryan has been elected as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Hesitant to run at first, the Republican from Wisconsin eventually gained support of the majority of Republicans in Congress to succeed John Boehner of Ohio for the job.
Photo Reuters
Paul Ryan, 45, was Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate in the 2012 election.
He has helped determine budget and tax policy in Congress and said he only wanted the job to unify Republicans.
In his new position, Paul Ryan will be second in line to the presidency only behind the vice-president.
Among other responsibilities, the speaker acts as presiding officer over the House for administrative and business matters.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to keep restrictions on American citizens travelling to Cuba, despite a recent thaw in relations.
The chamber rejected proposals to allow regular scheduled flights to Cuba.
The House also said a rule should remain requiring US citizens to get a special license before going to Cuba.
It was voting on a transport funding bill which has provisions related to Cuba.
President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill.
New rules issued by the Obama administration in January were aimed at easing travel restrictions to Cuba and allowing scheduled flights for the first time.
Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart said the White House was wrong to lift the restrictions.
Mario Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American, said it would mean flights landing at an airport that was partially owned by US interests when it was seized by the Cuban government.
“What you are saying is, <<It’s OK to do business on property that was stolen from Americans>>,” said Mario Diaz-Balart.
The thaw in relations between the US and Cuba was announced at the end of 2014 in simultaneous televised speeches by President Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.
President Barack Obama used his executive powers to ease the embargo that has existed for more than 50 years, defying hardline critics.
However, the issue is caught in a battle between Republicans who control Congress and the White House.
House of Representatives has rejected the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records after voting in favor of the USA Freedom Act.
A 338-to-88 overwhelming vote in favor of the USA Freedom Act, already backed by the White House, means Senate backing would make it law.
The bill would empower the NSA to search data held by telephone companies on a case-by-case basis.
Bulk collection was revealed in 2013 by NSA’s former contractor Edward Snowden.
Supporters of the Freedom Act, including privacy and civil rights advocates, say it protects privacy while preserving national security powers.
The bill, which only affects people within the US, would amend sections of the USA Patriot Act, which was passed after the 9/11 attacks and which will expire on June 1st.
The amendments would ban the NSA’s mass collection of telephone data – phone numbers, time and duration of calls – as well as emails and web addresses.
“Americans’ liberty and America’s security can co-exist,” said House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, who voted in favor of the bill.
“These fundamental concepts are not mutually exclusive.”
Earlier this month, a US appeals court ruled that bulk collection of phone records by the National Security Agency was illegal.
On November 14, the House of Representatives passed legislation authorizing construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline by a decisive vote of 252 to 161.
However, President Barack Obama is signaling he is increasingly skeptical of the project.
While the White House has not issued a formal veto threat, it has indicated it is prepared to reject the House bill; press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on November 13 it has recommended vetoes against similar bills in the past. And barring an extraordinary legislative maneuver forcing his hand next Congress, according to individuals familiar with the administration’s thinking, Barack Obama is likely to reject a final permit when the matter comes before him.
Republicans have identified Keystone as one of their top legislative priorities, and it enjoys the support of several major business groups along with the oil industry.
TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling issued a statement on November 5 saying that the Keystone XL pipeline “has always enjoyed bipartisan support and is a great example of an issue where both parties can work together to create jobs and enhance energy security for the United States. After six years, it is time to break the gridlock on Keystone and move forward”.
Russ Girling said that pipelines “remain the safest and most efficient way to move large volumes of Canadian and American oil to US refineries. Keystone XL will help push oil out of US refineries from countries and parts of the world that are often openly hostile to America’s interests or values – and that benefits all of us”.
Senator Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska), one of the pipeline’s fiercest congressional backers, said he was “very, very skeptical” Barack Obama would grant a permit to the project’s sponsor TransCanada if the question was “left to a presidential decision”.
Some unions, including LIUNA and the International Union of Operating Engineers, have endorsed the project as a means of generating high-paying, short-term construction jobs.
However, environmentalists have framed the 1,700-mile pipeline, which would ship bitumen that is extracted though an energy-intensive process in Canada’s oil sands, as a referendum on the president’s commitment to addressing climate change.
In June 2013, Barack Obama said that he would reject the project if it would “significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution,” a pledge he repeated again last week in a press conference he held after the midterm elections.
The House of Representatives has passed a resolution to sue President Barack Obama for allegedly exceeding his constitutional powers.
The 225-201 vote along party lines means House lawyers will now draft legal documents to launch a lawsuit.
Its supporters say Barack Obama exceeded his powers when he delayed an insurance deadline in his healthcare law.
Barack Obama himself has dismissed it as a waste of time.
“Everyone sees this as a political stunt,” he said.
“If they’re not going to do anything, we’ll do what we can on our own,” the president added.
The House of Representatives has passed a resolution to sue President Barack Obama for allegedly exceeding his constitutional powers
“And we’ve taken more than 40 actions aimed at helping hardworking families like yours. That’s when we act – when your Congress won’t.”
The action is reportedly the first time either the House or Senate has brought legal action against a president over the legality of his powers, although members of Congress have sued the president before.
Republicans in Congress have complained that Barack Obama has exceeded his constitutional authority on numerous occasions, in order to bypass Congress by issuing executive orders.
They object, for instance, to his order unilaterally easing deportations of some young illegal immigrants, and the prison exchange that won the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl held captive for five years by the Taliban.
“This isn’t about Republicans or Democrats. It’s about defending the Constitution we swore an oath to,” Speaker John Boehner said during an impassioned debate in the House on Wednesday evening.
“Are you willing to let any president choose what laws to execute and what laws to change?”
At issue was Barack Obama’s decision to twice delay requirements in his 2010 healthcare overhaul that businesses over a certain size provide their workers with health insurance.
Barack Obama has been forthright about his intentions to circumvent the gridlocked Congress when possible, noting frequently that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has declined even to hold votes on Senate-passed bills on topics from immigration reform to gay rights.
As far back as January, White House aides began referring to the president’s “pen and phone” strategy – using his telephone to convene meetings at the White House and his pen to sign executive orders and changes to federal regulations.
The House of Representatives is voting to pass a resolution authorizing it to sue President Barack Obama for what Republican leaders describe as his overreach of authority.
The resolution is expected to pass the Republican-controlled chamber in a party line vote onJuly 30.
Its sponsors say Barack Obama exceeded his powers when he delayed an insurance deadline in his healthcare law.
The president himself has dismissed the lawsuit as a waste of time.
“Everyone sees this as a political stunt,” Barack Obama said while in Kansas on Wednesday.
“But it’s worse than that because every vote they’re taking… means a vote they’re not taking to help people.”
The House of Representatives is voting to pass a resolution authorizing it to sue President Barack Obama (photo Reuters)
Republicans in Congress have complained that Barack Obama has exceeded his constitutional authority on numerous occasions, in order to bypass Congress by issuing executive orders.
They object, for instance, to his order unilaterally easing deportations of some young illegal immigrants, and the prison exchange that won the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl held captive for five years by the Taliban.
Specifically at issue in the resolution, which was sponsored by Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas with the full backing of House Speaker John Boehner, was Barack Obama’s decision to twice delay requirements in his 2010 healthcare overhaul that businesses over a certain size provide their workers with health insurance.
Barack Obama has been forthright about his intentions to circumvent the gridlocked Congress when possible, noting frequently that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has declined even to hold votes on Senate-passed bills on topics from immigration reform to gay rights.
As far back as January, White House aides began referring to the president’s “pen and phone” strategy – using his telephone to convene meetings at the White House and his pen to sign executive orders and changes to federal regulations.
Every US president since George Washington has issued executive orders, and Barack Obama has not stood out in the modern era for the number he has signed.
In his six years in office Barack Obama has issued 183 executive orders, compared to 291 across George W. Bush’s eight years and 381 for Ronald Reagan, according to a study by the American Presidency Project at the University of California-Santa Barbara.
Wikipedia has imposed a ban on page edits from computers at the US House of Representatives, following “persistent disruptive editing”.
The 10-day block comes after anonymous changes were made to entries on politicians and businesses, as well as events like the Kennedy assassination.
The biography of former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was edited to say that he was an “alien lizard”.
One staffer said they were being banned for the “actions of two or three”.
Edits from computers using the IP address belonging to the House of Representatives have been banned before, following similar acts of vandalism.
Wikipedia has imposed a ban on page edits from computers at the US House of Representatives (photo Wikipedia)
The latest block comes after rogue edits were brought to light by a Twitter feed, @congressedits, which posts every change made from the government-owned address.
One of the acts highlighted was an alteration to the page on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which was changed to say that Lee Harvey Oswald was acting “on behalf of the regime of Fidel Castro”.
An entry on the moon landing conspiracy theories was changed to say they were “promoted by the Cuban government”.
Another entry, on the Ukrainian politician Nataliya Vitrenko, was edited to claim that she was a “Russian puppet”.
The biography of Donald Rumsfeld was revised, describing him as an “alien lizard who eats Mexican babies”.
However, the edit that finally brought administrators to ban anonymous edits from the House IP address was made on the entry for media news site Mediaite.
Mediaite had previously run a story on the rogue edits from congressional computers.
Wikipedians have been warning editors from the House of Representatives since March 2012, and moved to block the address for one day earlier this month.
On July 24, the IP address was blocked for 10 days, but one staffer protested that they were being punished for the actions of a few.
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would curb electronic snooping.
The measure would bar the National Security Agency (NSA) from collecting Americans’ personal online information without a warrant.
It was added on Thursday night to a $570 billion defense spending bill.
The move follows revelations the NSA mass harvested data on telephone calls and snooped on foreign leaders.
“The American people are sick of being spied on,” Congressman Thomas Massie, the amendment’s sponsor, said.
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would curb electronic snooping (photo Reuters)
The amendment, added to the defense bill in a 293-123 vote on Thursday, also prohibits the NSA and CIA from accessing commercial technology products, which some politicians have described as a government “backdoor” for snooping.
Leaked documents provided to the Guardian newspaper indicate the NSA intercepted computer network devices such as routers and servers and embedded them with backdoor surveillance tools.
They were then sent to customers around the world.
Technology companies including Google were part of a coalition which urged support for the House provision.
Earlier this year the House passed the USA Freedom Act that would limit the NSA’s bulk data collection and storage of some American landline telephone call records.
But some members of Congress complained that legislation was not strict enough.
The House is expected to pass the defense bill on Friday. But the fate of the spying curbs is unclear, as they have yet to be written into the Senate version of the defense spending bill.
Congress has attempted to restrict government surveillance after revelations last year by fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden showed widespread snooping.
Last year, Edward Snowden – a former NSA contractor – fed a trove of secret NSA documents to news outlets including the Washington Post and the Guardian.
Among other things, the leaks detailed the NSA’s practice of harvesting data on millions of telephone calls made in the US and around the world, and revealed the agency had snooped on foreign leaders.
The revelations have sparked a debate in the US over the appropriate role of the NSA and the extent to which it should be authorized to conduct such broad surveillance.
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