Dozens of Democrats — including two from Georgia — joined with Republicans in the U.S. House to pass a bill Thursday to halt the entry of refugees from Syria and Iraq until additional screenings are in place.
Democratic U.S. Reps. David Scott of Atlanta and Sanford Bishop of Albany helped the bill achieve a two-thirds majority, which would be enough to override a veto from President Barack Obama. But as Senate Democrats possibly mount a filibuster, the prospect of a refugee freeze is unclear in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.
The bill would require the FBI to install a background check program on refugees coming from Iraq and Syria, and leaders of three agencies to certify the stronger screenings, before any more refugees displaced by the Islamic State can enter the U.S.
“When your nation is worried … they look to leaders and leadership to stand up and, first of all, protect them, give them a feeling of comfort, give them a feeling that they are safe,” Scott said.
“This refugee situation is unnerving our people,” he said, “and my first priority is to keep our people safe, not only physically, (but) psychologically, all right?”
The current system tests asylum-seekers' fingerprints and names against intelligence databases and terror watch lists. Since 2011, about 2,000 Syrian refugees have come to the United States after a screening process that takes 18 to 24 months, according to the White House. Most are women and children, and the White House says 2 percent are single males of combat age.
Traveling in Asia this week, Obama has repeatedly blasted Republicans for looking to limit refugees, saying at one point: "Apparently they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America."
He has been unable to quiet the political clamor against the refugee program in the wake of Friday's terror attacks in Paris. ISIS took responsibility for the series of attacks that killed 129 and injured hundreds more. The Paris terrorists who have been identified as of Thursday have been European citizens — not refugees — including slain mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who had traveled back and forth from Syria.
Roswell Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Price cited polls showing public support for stopping Syrian refugees.
“The American people are demanding action,” Price said. “How the president can stand not with the American people astounds me daily.”
In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal has announced he will not accept more Syrian refugees, though he has limited power to stop them himself. Since the start of the war in 2011, 66 Syrians have been resettled in Georgia by nonprofits that work with the federal government, such as Catholic Charities.
The White House has spent the week making its case to reporters and members of Congress, both publicly and privately, that its system is effective in bringing in only legitimate refugees and essential to keeping together the multinational coalition to fight ISIS. Obama announced this fall that he would bring in an additional 10,000 displaced Syrians over the next year under pressure from allies who have taken in far more.
Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Lithonia Democrat, had said he wanted a "pause" in the refugee program, but on Thursday he said the Obama administration persuaded him to oppose the bill.
“From what I’ve heard, after being briefed about it, I’m comfortable that the process is extensive and it is — I can’t say that it’s foolproof, no process is,” Johnson said. “But it’s as close to being as tight as it can be, and I’m sure it will get tighter. I’m sure that red flags have gone up and people are looking more closely at these refugee referrals than we have in the past.”
Some conservatives say the bill does not go far enough to shut down the program. Heritage Action for America, the conservative pressure group, opposed the bill, saying it gave too much authority to the administration to decide whether the new vetting process was strong enough. But only two Republicans sided with Heritage and voted no Thursday.
In the Senate, leading Democrats are backing the president, and it’s unclear whether Republicans could peel enough away to overcome a filibuster.
Even some Republicans are saying they are less concerned about refugees than the visa waiver program, which allows citizens of France and other allies to come to the U.S. without a visa — and facing minimal screening.
Senate Democrats, amid terror concerns, are also looking to jam their Republican counterparts on gun control. They are proposing to ban people on the FBI terror watch list and foreign nationals in the U.S. on the visa waiver program from buying firearms.
Congress now takes a pause of its own to leave town for Thanksgiving. The Senate could take up the House refugee bill the week of Nov. 30, but it’s all but certain that the refugee fight will roll into a debate over a massive spending bill that must pass by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown.
“It’s the first step,” Price said of Thursday’s vote. “Not the final step.”
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