The new omnibus funding bill, which finances President Barack Obama's refugee resettlement program, is being seen by conservatives as a policy win for GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio in the wake of the failed Gang of Eight bill on immigration and its call to expand the nation's "fiancé visa" program,
Breitbart News reports.
"The Ryan Omnibus is a good preview of priorities in a Rubio presidency," nationally syndicated talk show host Laura Ingraham complained on
Twitter after the vote was approved, Breitbart report notes.
Rubio, however,
did not vote on the omnibus because he was campaigning in Iowa, while other senators seeking the presidency were in Washington to cast their votes.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voted for the bill, while Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, along with Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is campaigning for the Democratic nomination, all voted against it.
Breitbart revealed that Rubio's 2013 Gang of Eight bill included a provision, "Fiancée and Fiancé Child Status Protection," that would have dramatically expanded the pool of potential immigrants by allowing non-citizens to bring in their foreign fiancés and their children, writes Breitbart's Julia Hahn.
The K-1 visa program has come under fire in recent weeks after it was revealed that Tashfeen Malik, the wife of Syed Farook, had come into the country on such a visa. Just a few years later after she entered the country, the couple carried out the San Bernardino attacks, killing 14 people and seriously injuring several others.
Farook's parents were also Pakistani immigrants, writes Hahn, but Rubio emphasized on Tuesday night in the GOP debate that Farook was an American, and that ISIS is "actively recruiting Americans. The attacker in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country."
However, Rubio did not mention that Farooq was born in the United States after his parents received visas to come into the country, a matter Sens. Jeff Sessions and Ted Cruz addressed in a
joint letter to to the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General, demanding the release of the family's immigration history.
Meanwhile, Rubio's Gang of Eight bill would have allowed the pool of fiancé visas to import more than 10 million people, and included even adult-aged offspring to come with their parents.
Meanwhile, the senator continues to advocate for Syrian refugees, and voted against an amendment by fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul and supported by Sessions and Cruz to pause immigration from countries with significant areas controlled by jihadists.
Even Rubio's recent immigration bill, the Immigration Innovation Act of 2015, lifts caps on green cards and H-1B visas, and is supported by some of Rubio's financial backers, including Microsoft and Oracle leader Larry Ellison.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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