Once again, President Obama appears to have overreached his executive authority with an administrative move that circumvents the plain intent of the law, all in order to curry diplomatic favor with the Islamic Republic of Iran. But rather than cover the development in a strictly neutral fashion, the Washington-based The Hill newspaper set out to tar Republicans as seething hotheads who can't contain their rage, rather than legislators upset over the administration blatantly disregarding the legislative intent of a brand-new visa-waiver law.
Here's how Julian Hattem informed readers on Thursday afternoon of the controversy (excerpted below; emphases mine) in his story headlined "GOP explodes in anger as feds create Iran carve-out for visas":
Furious Republicans assailed the Obama administration Thursday for making changes to a visa entry program for foreign tourists that they characterized as illegal.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday announced changes to the easy-entry visa waiver program, which allows citizens from 38 countries — including Australia, France and Japan — to enter the United States without a visa.
The DHS said its new policy will not prohibit people from the 38 countries from entering the U.S. if they have recently traveled to or are dual citizens of Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria, which are considered hotbeds of terrorism.
Instead, those people — who otherwise would have been eligible to participate in the visa waiver program — will have to obtain a visa through the State Department.
However, the administration is also creating a carve-out solely for Iran, with visa waivers handed out on “a case-by-case basis” to people who have traveled there for "legitimate business-related purposes" following adoption of the nuclear deal last year.
Some journalists, diplomats and aid workers traveling to and from the four countries would also receive waivers, the DHS said.
Republicans blasted the announcement, saying President Obama is abusing a minor provision in the law to create a series of loopholes aimed at placating Iran.
“The Obama administration is blatantly breaking the law, a law the president himself signed,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) — the author of the underlying bill — said in a joint statement on Thursday.
“President Obama is again putting his relationship with Iran’s supreme leader over the security of Americans,” they added. “He cannot rewrite the law to appease foreign governments — he should instead pay attention to his own.”
The visa waiver law passed last year was intended to close what both parties have described as a dangerous loophole that could allow European nationals involved with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to come to the United States.
The legislation passed by Congress retained the option for the Obama administration to waive the visa requirement if someone’s travel was “in the law enforcement or national security interests of the United States.”
Secretary of State John Kerry caused a stir last month when he suggested the visa waivers would be used to help encourage businesses to enter Iran, following implementation of the landmark international nuclear accord this month.
Iran had previously characterized the new visa waiver measures as an unfair attack on its ability to do business with the rest of the world.
McCaul and Miller on Thursday said extra measures for Iran were discussed and "explicitly rejected" during negotiations over the visa waiver bill with the administration.
Mr. Hattem could have opened his story without using loaded language, and his editors have avoided loaded language in the headline, and communicated the controversy at hand just as well.
