Forwarded email claims President Obama has funded a $20 million resettlement of Hamas refugees to the United States via H.R. 1388 (aka H.B. 1388), a bill supposedly passed 'behind our backs' in Congress.
Description: Forwarded email
Circulating since: April 2009
Status: False (see details below)
Example:
Email contributed by Carol M., April 25, 2009:
Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know....
Something happened... H.R. 1388 was passed yesterday, behind our backs. You may want to read about it. It wasn't mentioned on the news... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.
Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA. This is the news that didn't make the headlines...
By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims" in Gaza.
The "presidential determination", which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States, was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.
Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Let's review...itemized list of some of Barack Obama's most recent actions since his inauguration:
His first call to any head of state, as president, was to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian territory.
His first one-on-one television interview with any news organization was with Al Arabia television.
His first executive order was to fund/facilitate abortion(s) not just here within the U. S., but within the world, using U. S. tax payer funds.
He ordered Guantanamo Bay closed and all military trials of detainees halted.
He ordered overseas CIA interrogation centers closed.
He withdrew all charges against the masterminds behind the USS Cole and the "terror attack" on 9/11.
Now we learn that he is allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.
These important, and insightful, issues are being "lost" in the blinding bail-outs and "stimulation" packages.
Doubtful? To verify this for yourself:
www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488
PLEASE PASS THIS ON... AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW
WE are losing this country at a rapid pace.
Analysis: Among other falsehoods, this message promotes the erroneous impression that H.R. 1388 (referred to above as "H.B. 1388"), a bill 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.
The real 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," H.R. 1388 was covered by the media during House and Senate debates, passed Congress with bipartisan support, and was signed into law with all the usual public hoopla.
It had nothing to do with refugees.
Presidential Determination No. 2009-15
In January 2009 President Obama did sign a 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.
As anyone can easily see by simply reading the document (also available here), not to mention the accompanying State Dept. press release detailing how the funds would be spent, the memorandum did not order, request, or even propose the resettlement of Palestinian refugees in the United States. In point of fact, it used precisely the same language as humanitarian aid memos signed during the previous administration by President George W. Bush (example #1, example #2, example #3).
The 'itemized list'
The so-called "itemized list" of other presidential actions taken in the early days of the Obama administration is roughly accurate, albeit cherry-picked, decontextualized, and spun in a manner consistent with the overall political bias of the message.
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Sources and further reading:
H.R. 1388: The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
Library of Congress
Presidential Determination No. 2009-15: Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related To Gaza
WhiteHouse.gov, 2 February 2009
United States Humanitarian Support to Palestinians
U.S. State Dept. press release, 30 January 2009
Presidential Determination No. 2008-10: Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to Africa and the Middle East
Government Printing Office, 29 January 2008
Was H.R. 1388 Passed 'Behind Our Backs'?
FactCheck.org, 5 May 2009
Did Obama Pay for Hamas-Affiliated Terrorists to Emigrate to the U.S.?
FactCheck.org, 19 February 2009
President Obama Calls Mahmoud Abbas as Middle East Hits Top of Agenda
Times Online, 21 January 2009
Obama Voices Hope for Mideast Peace in Talk with Al-Arabiya TV
Washington Post, 27 January 2009
Obama Reverses Abortion-Funds Policy
Associated Press, 23 January 2009
Last updated: 03/24/12
