One-Sentence Bill Would Block Trump's Muslim Ban

US Rep. Don Beyer was joined by Christians, Jews, Muslims, and atheists on Wednesday when he announced a new bill to block one of Donald Trump's more extreme policies. The Virginia Democrat's "Freedom of Religion Act" outlaws banning immigrants based on their religion, which would thwart Trump's proposed "complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the US, the Washington Post reports. The bill consists of a single sentence: "An alien may not be denied admission to the United States because of the alien's religion or lack of religious beliefs." The bill is not expected to get far in the GOP-controlled House, though Beyer's office says one Republican, New York's Richard Hanna, has agreed to co-sponsor the bill along with 54 Democrats.

Trump himself appears to be cooling on the ban, the Guardian reports. On Fox's Kilmeade & Friends Wednesday, Trump said the proposal was only a suggestion. "It's a temporary ban, it hasn't been called for yet, nobody's done it, this is just a suggestion until we find out what’s going on," he said while discussing newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who rejected Trump's offer to make him an exception to the Muslim ban. In India, meanwhile, the AP reports that hard-line Hindu protesters in New Delhi fully in favor of the ban lit a ritual fire on Wednesday, added Trump photos to their collection of statues of Hindu gods, and prayed that he would become president. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity," said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the nationalist Hindu Sena group. (Trump still won't release his taxes.)