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.

Originally posted by Maxmars

If this was a HOAX, why is it in the .gov record database?

edit on 1-8-2011 by Maxmars because: (no reason given)

HB 1388 PASSED

You just spent $20,000,000 to move members/supporters of Hamas, a terrorist organization, to the United States ; housing, food, transportation, the whole enchilada.

H.R. 1388 was passed, 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.

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.

In January 2009 President Obama signed a completely unrelated 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 State Dept. press release detailing how the funds will 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).