US News

House votes to curb Syrian refugees despite Obama’s veto threat

WASHINGTON — A vote to temporarily halt the flow of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the US easily passed the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon amid fears that terrorists could easily exploit American hospitality and sneak into the country by posing as migrants.

The Republican-sponsored bill was approved 289-137, with 47 Democrats switching sides to support it.

Reps. Steve Israel (D-LI), Kathleen Rice (D-LI), Sean Maloney (D-Newburgh) and Louise Slaughter (D-Rochester) all voted in favor.

The proposal would make it virtually impossible for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to gain admission by requiring that the director of national intelligence, as well as the heads of the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, personally sign off on each individual applicant.

“Being generous does not mean that we need to have a weak screening process for refugees,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

“If you are a terrorist or if you are a threat to our country, you are not getting in, period.”

Republicans brought the bill directly to the House floor, bypassing Democrats who were pushing for a legislative compromise.

Opinion polling this week showed majority support for stopping the admission of Syrian refugees following the recent terror spree in Paris, where one attacker is believed to have sneaked in by posing as a refugee from the Syrian civil war.

The House vote demonstrated enough support to override a veto vowed by President Obama, but the legislation isn’t expected to pass the Senate, where Minority Leader Harry Reid has rounded up enough opposition to keep 60 senators from voting in favor.

The White House said Obama would block the bill if it reaches his desk, citing “the lives at stake and the critical importance to our partners in the Middle East and Europe of American leadership in addressing the Syrian refugee crisis.”

Meanwhile, in the Senate, presidential candidate Ted Cruz tried to introduce his own plan to bar refugees from any country with territory controlled by terrorists, but was blocked by senior Democrats.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) called some of Cruz’s language “deeply un-American.”

“I’m worried in this country that we hear rhetoric that is dangerous, and it’s time to stop,” Leahy said.

Cruz (R-Texas) shot back that none of his relatives who immigrated from Europe and Cuba posed any kind of threat.

“Let me say speaking the truth is not terrorism,” Cruz said.