{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140912025230/http://wolf.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/wolf-again-calls-on-house-to-pass-syria-travel-ban-bill", "Wolf Again Calls On House To Pass Syria Travel Ban Bill", "2014-09-09", "2014", "2014-09", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Frank Wolf", "W000672", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today in a speech on the House floor again urged his colleagues to pass legislation supported by the FBI to limit travel to Syria by American citizens to prevent those who have trained and fought with terrorist groups from freely returning to the U.S. and committing an attack.\u00a0\nCiting reports of more than 140 Americans fighting alongside terrorists in Syria, Wolf said his bill, the International Conflicts of Concern Act, H.R. 4223, is \u201ca commonsense solution to an increasingly urgent threat.\u201d\nWolf also reminded his colleagues that three Americans died fighting with terrorists this summer, including a suicide bomber who travelled from Syria to Florida and back again in the months before his deadly act.\u00a0\n\u201cWe must take proactive steps to discourage Americans from travelling to Syria to link up with these groups,\u201d Wolf said.\u00a0 \u201cCurrent law does not prevent Americans from travelling freely to Syria and back, which creates a loophole that would-be jihadists can exploit.\u00a0 Unless the U.S. has solid evidence that they have joined one of these terrorist groups, the FBI can\u2019t arrest suspects upon their return.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it can be very hard to prove that suspects fought with a terrorist group in Syria, due to limited U.S. intelligence about their activities in the region.\u201d\nWolf also said he was concerned that the absence of laws preventing unrestricted travel to Syria means the U.S. is not taking any substantial steps to discourage Americans from going over to fight.\n\u201cThis is an untenable situation that puts our country at greater risk of attack from a radicalized American who trains and fights with these groups and later returns home,\u201d Wolf said.\u00a0\nBelow is the complete text of Wolf\u2019s speech:\n\u201cMr. Speaker, according to a new poll released by CNN last evening, \u2018Americans are increasingly concerned that ISIS represents a direct terror threat\u2019 and they are \u2018fearful that ISIS agents are living in the United States.\u2019\u00a0 A Washington Post-ABC News poll released this morning shows that 90 percent of the American people believe ISIS poses a \u2018serious\u2019 threat to the U.S.\u00a0\n\u201cThis threat is growing, largely due to the fact that increasing numbers of radicalized westerners \u2013 including more than 140 Americans \u2013 are freely travelling to Syria to link up with ISIS and al Qaeda-affiliated groups.\u00a0 Consider that over the last month, while this Congress was out on recess, the number of Americans killed fighting with terrorist organizations in Syria quickly grew, signaling a trend that should be troubling to all Americans.\u00a0\n\u201cEarlier this summer, Moner Mohammed Abu-Salha, a 22-year-old from Florida, became the first American suicide bomber fighting in Syria for the al Qaeda-affiliate al Nusra Front.\u00a0 Equally concerning as his deadly act was the fact that he travelled from Syria to Florida and back again in the months before his deadly terrorist act.\u00a0\n\u201cIn August, two more Americans were reportedly killed fight with ISIS: Douglas McAurthur McCain; and Abdirahmaan Muhumed, both originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota.\nIn light of these developments, there is no question that we need to do more to prevent these radicalized Americans from returning freely to the U.S. \n\u201cWe must take proactive steps to discourage Americans from travelling to Syria to link up with these groups.\u00a0 Current law does not prevent Americans from travelling freely to Syria and back, which creates a loophole that would-be jihadists can exploit.\u00a0 Unless the U.S. has solid evidence that they have joined one of these terrorist groups, the FBI can\u2019t arrest suspects upon their return.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it can be very hard to prove that suspects fought with a terrorist group in Syria, due to limited U.S. intelligence about their activities in the region.\n\u201cI am also concerned that the absence of laws preventing unrestricted travel to Syria means the U.S. is not taking any substantial steps to discourage Americans from going over to fight.\u00a0 This is an untenable situation that puts our country at greater risk of attack from a radicalized American who trains and fights with these groups and later returns home.\u00a0\n\u201cThat is why I introduced legislation in March aimed at curbing this threat.\u00a0Since its introduction six months ago, the dramatic gains made by ISIS and the growing number of foreign fighters have only reaffirmed the need for legislation to address this issue.\n\u201cMy bill, H.R. 4223 \u2013\u00a0 the International Conflicts of Concern Act \u2013 would give the president authority to temporarily restrict travel and material support to countries like Syria, and the president could add additional countries of concern when conflicts spill over into other countries, like we have seen in Iraq.\u00a0\n\u201cThe bill would also contain important protections allowing legitimate travel by licensed humanitarian aid workers, journalists and other groups cleared by the U.S. government.\n\u201cI also want to add that this bill was developed with input from FBI agents and has been supported by Director Comey.\u00a0\n\u201cI believe it is a commonsense solution to an increasingly urgent threat \u2013 and the House should bring up this bill and pass it before we leave next week.\u00a0 Should we fail to do so, I believe we will one day regret not doing all we could to protect our homeland from those Amricans radicalized fighting with ISIS in Syria.\u00a0\n\u201cMr. Speaker, I want to close by also encouraging the president to call on the expertise of two men who know more about fighting terrorists and insurgent threats in Iraq than anyone:\u00a0 Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Stanley McChrystal.\u00a0\n\u201cAlthough both have retired and neither work for this administration anymore, our country would benefit greatly from their expertise as the military and intelligence community address the growing threat in Iraq.\u00a0 I hope the president and his team will ask for their assistance.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140912025230/http://wolf.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/wolf-again-calls-on-house-to-pass-syria-travel-ban-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5766150318086147, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}