Senate

Senate Dems push wide-ranging ISIS plan

by Jordain Carney - 12/09/15 5:39 PM ET

Senate Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a broad proposal to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the wake of a string of recent terrorist attacks.

“ISIS’s despicable acts of terror around the globe in recent weeks are harrowing reminders that we must do everything we can to keep our country safe,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

{mosads}The legislation combines new sanctions against ISIS with additional support for local groups fighting them and extra help for European countries screening immigrants that are coming from war-torn regions.

Democrats are also pushing for an anti-ISIS “czar,” suggesting that the administration needs one person to oversee the administration’s strategy to defeat the terrorist group.

The White House had previously announced that the president had named Rob Malley as a special adviser on ISIS. But a Democratic aide said that senators had been working on the legislation before Obama made the announcement and that lawmakers wanted it included in the bill.

Republican lawmakers are already taking aim at the push for an ISIS czar. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) suggested that the administration already has a person responsible for overseeing strategy: the president.

“We don’t need another appointed bureaucrat,” he said. “We need a commander in chief willing to recognize the reality on the ground and one who will step up and lead.”

Democrats are also tying their push to tighten the Visa Waiver Program to their ISIS plan, as well support for the Department of Homeland Security to create a new office focused on “homegrown extremism.”

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), citing the shooting last week in California that killed 14 people, said that “one of the greatest threats we face is homegrown terrorism and self-radicalization.”

Senators on Thursday are expected to get briefed on the California shooting during a closed-door meeting.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s proposal to block suspected terrorists from getting guns is also included in the wide-ranging legislation that Democrats introduced Wednesday. Her proposal would allow the attorney general to block the sale of a gun or explosive to a known or suspected terrorist if it’s suspected it will be used in an act of terrorism.

But Republicans have largely united against the California Democrat’s legislation, arguing that it takes away constitutional rights from Americans.

Cornyn added on Tuesday that “if these people on this government watch list are truly dangerous, why isn’t the Obama administration and the Obama Justice Department indicting them, taking them to court, trying them and convicting them of crimes?”

The Texas Republican is pushing an alternative that would allow the attorney general to delay the sale for up to 72 hours to try to get a court to block the sale. It would also allow a suspected terrorist to be arrested if a court agrees to block the sale.

Tags Chuck Schumer Dianne Feinstein John Cornyn Tom Carper