Senate

Senate Dems introduce bill to block Trump’s revised travel order

by Jordain Carney - 03/07/17 4:06 PM ET

Senate Democrats are moving to block President Trump’s revised executive order to temporarily halt travel from six Muslim-majority countries.

Sixteen Democrats introduced legislation — spearheaded by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) — to undercut the order by withholding funding to enforce it.

The bill, according to Murphy’s office, would also say the order violates the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which bans discrimination against immigrants based on what country they come from.

Murphy argued that the revised order is being used as a recruiting tool for terrorists.

“Our job is to keep the American people safe, but this hateful ban puts lives at risk. [The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] is already using President Trump’s order and the offensive rhetoric that defined his campaign to recruit more terrorists in the Middle East and indoctrinate lone wolves over the internet,” he said.

{mosads}Murphy added that “Congress must pass this bill and block it now.”

Murphy, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, introduced legislation earlier this year that would undermine the original executive order, which targeted Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia.

The executive order rolled out on Monday removed Iraq from the list of countries impacted by the travel ban. It also halts all refugee admissions to the U.S. for four months but removes the earlier indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.

It also more clearly defines who is exempt from the ban and strikes language giving preference to religious minorities such as Christians from Muslim-majority nations once refugee resettlement restarts.

Democrats are unlikely to block Trump’s order through legislation. They would need 60 votes to clear the Senate, which would require the support of at least a dozen GOP senators.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Tom Carper (Del.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Christopher Coons (Del.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.), and Chris Van Hollen (Md.) are backing Murphy’s bill.