NASHVILLE - In the wake of the Orlando attack, the U.S. House later today plans to take up a measure by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., as well as two other bills addressing domestic terrorist-radicalization efforts.
The bills, including Fleischmann's, had previously been approved individually but the move to package them into one measure - the "Countering Terrorist Radicalization Act" - is seen as an effort to speed Senate action in response to last Sunday's deadly attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the worst on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
In a floor speech earlier today, Fleischmann spoke of Chattanooga's own experience last July.
"It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since the horrific shootings at two military installations in Chattanooga, Tenn., my hometown and the town I proudly represent," Fleischmann said.
Recalling the four Marines and one sailor killed in 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez's July 16 Chattanooga shooting spree, Fleischmann said his own Combating Terrorist Recruitment Act of 2016, which passed by the House onApril 26, came about as a result of FBI Director James Comey's conclusion that the shootings "were motivated by foreign terrorist organization propaganda.
"We've seen this pattern repeat in the evil attack in Orlando as well as the attacks in San Bernardino, Paris and Brussels," Fleischmann said. "We need to use every tool in our tool box to combat Islamic extremism."
The congressman said his bill, based on bipartisan recommendations by a congressional task force, is "specifically designed to counter terrorist and foreign fighter travel." Foreign terrorist organizations like ISIS are "actively recruiting in our country at an alarming rate," Fleischmann added.
His legislation, H.R. 4820, directs the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to "incorporate, to the extent practicable, into Department of Homeland Security efforts to combat terrorist recruitment and communications the public testimonials of former violent extremists or their associates, including friends and family."
Those efforts may include "counter-messaging of foreign terrorist organization communications and narratives" as well as "related community engagement and public education efforts."
The two other measures now getting bundled along with Fleischmann's into the "Countering Terrorist Radicalization Act" are the ALERT Act of 2016 and the Counterterrorism Advisory Board of 2016.
U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., is sponsor of the "Amplifying Local Efforts to Root out Terrorism (ALERT) Act," which allows federal law enforcement to train and work closely with state and local law enforcement in using the most effective tactics and methods to counter terrorism.
U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a joint statement that "our nation rallies behind Orlando and the families of the victims in the wake of this terrorist attack. As we mourn and pray, we must also respond to the threat ISIS poses to our homeland. We must secure our nation from terrorism and prevent radicalization here at home so the American people can be safe and live without fear."
The repackaging of the three bills into one is "an effort to get as many of these bills as we can signed into law as quickly as possible," the leaders said.
McCarthy and McCaul added that since all three bills were initially passed with wide bipartisan backing "there is no reason this should not be sent to the President's desk and signed into law immediately. We also plan to consider additional bills in the wake of the attack in Orlando."