Measure to halt Syrian refugee program hits dead end
A GOP-sponsored measure seeking to pause the Obama administration's plan to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year has hit a dead end.
The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion 55-43 to advance the bill for a final vote.
If all 54 Republicans voted in favor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, would have needed at least six Democrats to advance the legislation, which the House passed in November with 47 Democratic votes.
Proposed in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the bill would require the Homeland Security secretary, FBI director, and director of national intelligence to certify the completion of background checks for all refugees from Iraq and Syria and certify that they they don't threaten U.S. national security.
The bill, therefore, would effectively suspend admissions into the U.S. for Iraqi and Syrian refugees.
Even if the bill passed the Senate, the White House issued a veto threat in November, arguing that the legislation would introduce "unnecessary and impractical requirements" to help vulnerable people and it would provide "no meaningful additional security for the American people."
Still, the Republicans running for president in 2016 clearly felt voters might view the bill as a marker of their commitment to protecting the homeland. All three senators competing for the GOP presidential nomination -- Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- returned to Washington, D.C. from the campaign trail to cast their votes in favor of advancing the bill.
More than four million Syrians have fled their country's civil war, according to the United Nations' Refugee Agency. Last June, more than 24,000 Syrians fled to Turkey. Others have fled to Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, North Africa and Europe.
