Dem Congresswoman Forced To Face Her Own Voting History After Calling Trump’s Travel Ban ‘Horrifying’
Authored by Phillip Stucky | 10:16 PM | 01/30/2017
URL of the original posting site: http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/30/dem-congresswoman-forced-to-face-her-own-voting-history-after-calling-trumps-travel-ban-horrifying/
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 25, 2011. REUTERS/Jim Young
Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Esty from Connecticut launched a tweetstorm Monday afternoon against President Donald Trump’s travel ban, but quickly backtracked after followers confronted her on her visa-related voting history. Esty co-sponsored H.B. 158 on Dec. 3 2015, a bi-partisan bill that enabled the executive branch led by the the Department of Homeland Security to severely limit or curtail visas from countries like Iran and Iraq.
Trump’s list of seven countries came primarily from the text of H.B. 158, but the executive order allows Trump to place a travel ban from any resident of those countries, excluding those with current green cards or legal residents of the United States.
Esty’s followers on Twitter were quick to remind the congresswoman about her voting history, going so far as to call her a “liar.”
Esty responded quickly, citing a Vox story that didn’t even mention the bill in question.
Esty’s press office told The Daily Caller News Foundation the congresswoman didn’t mean to assert that she didn’t co-sponsor the bill, but rather the bill didn’t do the same thing as Trump’s executive order. The office added that Trump’s order is unique because it constitutes a blanket ban, while the bill that she co-sponsored only sought to reduce the number of visas issued from the same seven countries.
Esty’s co-sponsored Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 prevented members of 38 countries to enter the U.S. for less than 90 days. The law prevented anyone from obtaining a visa into the country if they had visited any of the countries on the list within the last five years.
The American Civil Liberties Union opposed the measure before it was signed into law.
Other followers on Twitter weren’t having any of her response. One user posted a screenshot of the bill, along with a picture of her name on the co-sponsor page.
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