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My goodness, this could be rather frightening! sam
posted by
sam444
on July 15, 2010 at 10:56 PM
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A chain e mail, provably false
This message promotes the false impression that H.R. 1388 (referred to above as "H.B. 1388"), which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2009, allocated taxpayer funds to resettle Hamas refugees in the United States. It did not.
H.R. 1388,
The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, simply revised and reauthorized existing federal public service programs (such as AmeriCorps) to increase their scope and funding. (It did not, contrary to another false rumor, make public service "mandatory.") Far from being passed "behind our backs," the legislation won media attention during House and Senate debates, passed Congress with
bipartisan support, and was signed into law with
all the usual public hoopla.
It is true that in January 2009 President Obama signed an unrelated memorandum to the U.S. State Dept. (titled "Presidential Determination No. 2009-15" — not an executive order, strictly speaking, but comparable to one) authorizing $20.3 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees in Gaza. However, as anyone can easily ascertain
by simply reading the document (also available
here), as well as the State Dept.
press release detailing how the money will be spent, the memorandum does
not order, request, or even propose the resettlement of said refugees in the United States. In point of fact, it uses precisely the same language as memos pledging refugee assistance signed years ago by President George W. Bush (
example #1,
example #2,
example #3).
posted by
Katray2
on July 15, 2010 at 9:20 AM
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