Speaker. 25 years ago today. President Harry Truman vetoed a piece of legislation which he charged gave far too "sweeping powers" to the Department of Justice. The legislation was the McCarren Walter Act which has dictated the terms and conditions for visas granted for foreigners visiting our Nation. Included as one of the provisions of the McCarren Walter Act is section 212(a)(27) which "prohibits the issuance of a visa to any foreign national who seeks to enter the United States to engage in activities prejudicial to the American public interest." This section over the past 25 years stands as our "iron curtain" against a full and free exchange of all political views since the provision allows for persons to be excluded solely because of their political views. Nowhere. has our current visa policy been more discriminatory than against those who are concerned about the ongoing struggle for peace and justice in Northern Ireland. The McCarren Walter Act has contributed to a cloak of censorship being imposed on certain segments of the Irish American community who are deprived of hearing a full and free exchange of political positions. This is because some views are allowed into the United States and others are not. Whereas the Rev. Ian Paisley and other representatives of the Democratic Unionist Party are routinely allowed in the United Statesall members of another legally sanctioned political partySinn Fein are denied outright. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of H.R. 1199 which would reform the McCarren Walter Act to repeal the political exclusion category for visa denial. It would still bar terrorists and criminals from entering but would not permit the State Department to continue to impose a political and moral order over the rest of the worid. Hearings were begun on this legislation earlier this week and I hope its passage will occur in the not too distant future because it should not take us another 25 years to realize that Harry Truman was right.
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