House panel will scrutinize Obama's Syrian refugee plan

By Susan Ferrechio, Susan Ferrechio

Published December 20, 2015

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday will hold a hearing on the Syrian refugee crisis "and its impact on U.S. national security," panel chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., announced.

The hearing was scheduled as congressional lawmakers began asking more questions about how the Obama administration plans to combat the growing terror threat in the wake of the Paris attacks. Some lawmakers are demanding the Obama administration cancel its plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees to come to the United States, since one of the Paris attackers entered the country as a refugee.

"When will President Obama take ISIS threats seriously, as well as the warnings of national security officials within his own administration, and cease his plan to bring thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States?" Goodlatte said in a statement Monday. "His disconnectedness to reality is needlessly jeopardizing national security and Americans' lives."

Goodlatte last month called on Secretary of State John Kerry to withdraw the offer bring Syrian refugees to the United States after FBI Director James Comey told the Judiciary Committee his agency could not thoroughly screen incoming Syrians.