Democrats in the Senate blocked a bill on Wednesday that would have effectively stalled the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the United States.



The legislation, which sought to impose tighter restrictions on refugee screening, failed to overcome a procedural hurdle by a vote of 55 to 43. The bill – which would have required chiefs at the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and CIA to all certify that each individual refugee from Iraq or Syria had sufficiently cleared a background check – overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives in November on a bipartisan basis.

But Senate Democrats held the line to ensure that the measure did not make it to Barack Obama’s desk, an outcome that would have forced a presidential veto on what has emerged as a contentious national security issue.

The question of refugee admittance has gained particular prominence on the 2016 campaign trail, with presidential candidates sharply divided along party lines on whether the US should open up its borders to more of the millions fleeing war-torn Syria and Iraq. All three Republican senators running for president – Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky – returned to Washington to cast a vote in favor of advancing the bill, citing the threat of terrorism as reason for a more stringent vetting process.

Paul said Democrats were “making a big mistake” by blocking the legislation in the current climate.

“I think that if we want to protect our country, we’d have to have more strict scrutiny of those who are coming to visit and of those who are coming as refugees,” Paul told the Guardian after the vote.

“There have been repeated examples of people who pretend to be refugees and turn out to be a danger. I think the same goes for students and for visitors … Unfortunately, we’ve got a long road ahead of us of people wanting to come and attack us, so I think we need more scrutiny.”

Cruz, a vocal hardliner on immigration and border security, decried what he said were “partisan politics” in a statement.

“The Obama administration continues to allow thousands of insufficiently vetted refugees to flood our borders. Their plans to import refugees from war-torn Islamic nations not only make our country less secure, but also endanger American lives,” Cruz said. “Unfortunately, due to the obstruction of [Democratic leader] Harry Reid, Democrats appear to have a greater allegiance to President Obama than to the safety and security of the American people.”

While campaigning in New Hampshire on Wednesday morning, Rubio made a point of telling the crowd he would travel back to Washington to cast his vote on refugee reforms and vowed “to go even further” as president.



The senator from Florida has also cast the matter as one of national security, often telling voters that barring refugees does not make America anti-immigrant.

“You don’t lock your doors because you hate people on the outside. You lock the doors because you love the people on the inside,” Rubio often says while crisscrossing the early voting states.

Two Democratic senators from red states – Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota – sided with Republicans on the vote, while Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Democratic presidential candidate, was not present.

Although the US has one of the most rigorous screening processes for refugees in the world, terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, late last year have led to widespread concerns over the rise of Islamic State’s ability to carry out attacks in western countries. Obama has sought to reassure the American public that there is “no credible threat” facing the US, but recent polling has nonetheless found that a majority of the country remains opposed to accepting more refugees.



The US screening process for refugees from anywhere in the world typically takes 18 to 24 months. The Obama administration has additionally called on the UN’s refugee agency to prioritize women, children and the elderly – particularly those in need of medical treatment.

The US has taken in roughly 1,500 Syrian refugees since the war began in 2011, with plans to welcome at least 10,000 more over the next year. Humanitarian groups have complained the number is still insufficient, pointing to countries like Germany, which is set to take in 800,000 refugees by the end of the year.



Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the Senate, blamed Republicans on Wednesday for preying on the fears of Americans for political gain.



“Republicans are creating a terrible distraction for the sake of embracing the hateful rhetoric and vitriol of the Republican party’s standard bearers, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz,” said Reid, a senator from Nevada.

“Everyone on this side of the aisle believes we must destroy Isis and defend our nation, but we believe we can accomplish this goal without compromising our American core principles.”