FIRST ON FOX: In the midst of a blitz of Republicans shaking their fists at the Supreme Court, one Senate Republican is warning of national security consequences due to the high court’s bombshell birthright citizenship decision.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., worries that the courts 6-3 decision leaves America vulnerable to threats, particularly from China. In an interview with Fox News Digital, he explained a multistep path that lawmakers and the administration could take to tackle the issue.
“I want to get this done because I really believe that the future of our country is on the line,” Schmitt said. “We can’t have Chinese generals sending their wives to this country to give birth and going back for 18 years and coming back and being citizens. It’s insane.”
ALITO WARNS SUPREME COURT MADE ‘SERIOUS MISTAKE’ THAT COULD HAVE NATIONAL SECURITY CONSEQUENCES
While some lawmakers want a constitutional amendment and others are pushing legislation, Schmitt has a foot in both camps. He contended that in all, there is “a short-term, medium-term and long-term solution.”
“The short-term is executive action, the medium-term is our legislative action that we could take, and then the long-term solution is the constitutional amendment,” Schmitt said. “I think we should pursue all of those.”
The clearest shot to counter the courts decision would be through a constitutional amendment, but legislation may be the more realistic route, he said. Hes following the breadcrumb trail left by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to do it, too.
“Congress could â consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment â amend or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,” Kavanaugh wrote in the courts decision. “But Congress has not yet done so.”
Schmitts legislation would clarify the language of the 14th Amendment. The court interpreted the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” within the text to effectively mean all children born in the U.S. are automatically granted citizenship.
His plan is to modify the language to include “not subject to a foreign power,” which he contended would return the 14th Amendment to its original intent and prevent foreign adversaries from quietly scoring citizenship.
“That would get back to what the meaning was supposed to be, that the court got wrong, which would give us the opportunity, I think, for potentially the decision to be overturned, because Congress has clarified it,” Schmitt said.
But, like nearly every legislative push in the Senate, the 60-vote filibuster threshold is a barrier.
That means that Schmitt, or any Republican pushing a bill dealing with birthright citizenship, will need Democratic support to pass.
Schmitt pointed to the late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reids bill from 1993, the Immigration Stabilization Act, which among other things sought to tweak the 14th Amendment to prevent children of illegal immigrants born i
