Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) responded to President Obama’s assertion that Republicans “are scared of widows and orphans,” arguing instead that he is scared of Obama’s lack of a strategy in the Middle East.
“The President has said he’s too busy to debate the critical issue and apparently what passes for debate in this political day and age is some absurd conclusion about widows and orphans,” Gowdy, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security said during a subcommittee hearing Thursday.
“It is precisely that kind of hyper-partisan conclusion designed to cut off debate rather than discuss foreign policy that has united this country on only this one fact: we have no idea what our foreign policy is in the Middle East,” he added.
Highlighting the comments of intelligence officials regarding the lack of vetting data available and the riskiness of resettlement in the U.S., the South Carolina lawmaker stressed that the onus is on the Obama administration to dispel concerns and relay the amount of “risk acceptable when you’re talking about national security and public safety.”
Gowdy concluded by again chastising Obama for failing to have a coherent foreign policy in the Middle East.
“The President says we’re scared of widows and orphans, with all due respect to him, what I’m afraid of is a foreign policy that creates more widows and orphans,” he said.
“So maybe where he ought to start is a foreign policy in the Middle East, including Syria, where people can go back to their homeland, which is their preference, go back to their homelands,” he said. “Maybe you ought to defeat that J.V. team you thought you had contained. That would be the very best thing you could do to help people who aspire to a better life.”