Washington, D.C. (WBEN) - New York Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY-23) has introduced a piece of legislation in the House of Representatives to ensure that no Americans are being left behind in war-torn Israel.
Rep. Langworthy introduced the Safe Way Home Act earlier this week in the House of Representatives to redirect millions of dollars the Biden administration is using to house migrants in the United States and, instead, use those funds to help evacuate American citizens from Israel safely.
"It's just a total outrage at the fact that we have American citizens stuck in Israel, in the middle of a war zone, under attack by terrorists from Hamas, and they're being forced to sign a promissory note, essentially a loan, to pay to get out of a war zone. We have Americans trapped behind enemy lines, and this is just despicable to me," said Langworthy in an interview with WBEN on Wednesday.
Specifically, the Safe Way Home Act will transfer funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Shelter and Services Program to fund a crisis evacuation program within the U.S. Department of State. These funds will allow the State Department to evacuate American citizens from conflict areas where their lives are at risk, including Israel and future emergencies.
"This legislation would eliminate the Crisis Loan Program, and it would require the State Department to ensure that Americans have the resources they need from their own taxpayer dollars to get out of harm's way," Langworthy explained. "The fact that we're asking people to sign a loan agreement before we're willing to transport our own citizens out of harm's way is despicable. That's what this legislation aims to get rid of."
While the timing of getting this bill moving through Congress is unknown at this time, Rep. Langworthy feels legislation like this could be a way of waking up the Biden administration to take action.
"There's probably some of this they can achieve by executive order, the President certainly as wide discretion, but the fact that any American would be asked to pay a bill before they are rescued and brought out of harm's way, that should never happen to an American citizen caught in an international harm harmful situation abroad," Langworthy said.
Rep. Langworthy also feels despite the ongoing situation surrounding the Speaker of the House, a bill such as this should still get the necessary attention to help Americans still in Israel escape war.
Since the bill has been introduced to the House, Langworthy says his office has been overwhelmed by the amount of co-sponsors supporting this piece of legislation.
"There's a lot of people that have read the situation the same way that we have. They're just outraged that we would, in this country, be providing resources to illegal immigrants, but Americans trapped behind enemy lines are forced to sign notes to get back into this country. It's just dead wrong," he said. "We're hoping to see some swift action, and hopefully even before we can get the legislative process done, the administration will wake up and do what's right for the American people."
In addition, Langworthy believes there will be a wide amount of bipartisan support for this bill going forward.
"We have some Democrats looking at joining this bill, I think this is a no-brainer," Langworthy said. "The fact with the taxes we pay that we wouldn't have a fund like this to evacuate Americans from a harmful situation like we have with Hamas and the terrorism that's taking place in Israel. We've assisted families getting their family members out of Israel, I've talked to a lot of my colleagues here that have large Jewish populations that have been spending a great deal of time doing that."
