Turning on President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders, a significant chunk of the House Democratic caucus sided with Republicans in an effort to effectively stifle the flow of Syrian refugees into the US.

On Thursday, 47 House Democrats voted in favor of a bill authored by Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas). The bill passed, 289-137, giving it just enough to overcome a threatened veto from President Barack Obama.

The legislation bars Iraqi and Syrian refugees from being admitted to the US until the FBI director and the Director of National Intelligence certify to Congress that each refugee does not pose a national-security threat.

The bill's passage comes less than a week after the Paris terror attacks, which left 129 dead and hundreds more injured. One of the suspected attackers was found with a refugee passport, though its authenticity has not been confirmed.

Following the attacks, more than 30 governors and a number of mayors came out against Obama's plan to resettle up to 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next fiscal year.

The Obama administration lobbied Democrats hard on Thursday, to no avail. In a closed-door meeting, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson tried to convince skeptical Democrats.

But a Democratic source familiar with the meeting told Business Insider that many Democrats came away from the presentation more in favor of the GOP-led bill. The White House's presentation was heavily focused on process, and Democrats feared it would not translate into credible arguments they could make to skeptical constituents.

Indeed, several Democratic sources told Business Insider on Thursday that House Democrats feared the poor optics of voting against a bill strengthening barriers for refugee resettlement specifically from Iraq and Syria. A Bloomberg Politics survey released Wednesday found that 53% of Americans favored barring any Syrian refugees from entering the US.

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A Syrian refugee carries a bag she received as aid for the winter from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Tripoli, northern Lebanon November...
(Thomson Reuters)
A Syrian refugee carries a bag she received as aid for the winter from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Tripoli, northern Lebanon.

However, the bill passed with less Democratic support than leadership had feared — which, before the vote, was anywhere up to 100 defections.

And Senate Democrats were quick to say Thursday that the legislation wouldn't pass through that chamber. A Senate Democratic aide told Business Insider that the caucus "doesn't think there's an issue with the refugee process."

Obama, after the White House issued a veto threat late Wednesday, said the legislation would provide unnecessary barriers for refugees while doing little to make the US safer.

"The idea that somehow they pose a more significant threat than all the tourists who pour into the United States every single day just doesn’t jibe with reality," he said after a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Many experts contend that attaining refugee status is one of the most difficult ways for foreign nationals to travel to the US.

"It is extremely unlikely that someone who is a terrorist will be sent through the refugee resettlement program," Greg Chen, director of advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told Business Insider on Monday.

"It takes a great deal of time, and it wouldn't make sense for someone who is a terrorist to go through that process. There are going to be easier ways for a terrorist to try to infiltrate, rather than going through the refugee resettlement program."

I'm really surprised at the Dems now.
I don't think Congress & The Senate are afraid of refugees, terrorists, or Muslims, or the expense & manpower it would take.
I don't think they are afraid of murder & mayham in their city or state, by foreigners.
Nope... They patted themselves on the back that they were cool & thinking some new age globalist utopian sh@t.
So it must be something else.. & I don't mean votes.

I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore

http://youtu.be/ZwMVMbmQBug/

i think they are just getting tired of obarry and his bullchit...i know i have been for a while now

This was a bad idea. We know one of the Paris attackers slipped in with the refugees with a fake passport. He could have brought the ideology the fervor the zeal or connections to isil even if he wasn't the mastermind. We have enough nuts here as it is.
For the Christians and minorities like the yazidi the heart is in the right place but the risk is too big with the three large attacks within 7-10 days by isil.

i agree, the negatives for bringing them over here far outweigh any positives...

People were against it before the attack on France. There was no majority consensus, no vote, no representation. The mainstream media did everything it could to push the humanitarian angle.
And thru out the word " AntiIslamic" every chance it could.
There are LOTS of reasons why people are were/are against it.
NONE of which are being mentioned.

To say " Christians & minorities with their heart in the right place ".. May be a low blow. Because that implies EVERYONE who was/is against it, did not have their heart in the right place...as if something is wrong with them for thinking..
1- Let's take care of our own
2- We are over populated & have 13+ illegals to deal with that we are not even tracking
3- We can not afford this & it is not getting better anytime soon.
4- This is not a culture that will or is willing to assimilate.
5- We want to maintain our laws & religions & cultures & freedoms & rights & not change them to make foreigners feel at home.

This is our home. It is called a "Nationalism" perspective.
Not a " Globalist " one.
And look how that turned out in each & every country the refugees went to. And we are certainly NOT the only country to say 'no' or set restrictions or want to set restrictions on it.

Obonzo is an idiot.

Well, by God, Harry Reid is disgusted!

"" Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
slammed Republicans on Thursday over a
push to pause the administration's plan to
increase the number of Syrian refugees
accepted into the country in the wake of
last week's Paris attacks.
"I've been disgusted in recent days to see
some of my Republican colleagues shunning
the American tradition of sheltering those
fleeing death, torture, rape and oppression.
Frankly, I've been disappointed by
Republican fear mongering and bigotry," he
said.""
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/260747-reid-slams-gop-on-fear-mongering-over-syrian-refugees

But only at the Republicans, I guess....

Well, by God, Harry Reid is disgusted!

So Let it be Written:
http://youtu.be/2O8gTIr4lys/

That mans an idiot, like Pelosi.

Well then, the experts agree...
Harry Reid IS disgusting.

Funny thing is...the day before he made that rant, he said he would have to think on the pause of refugees. Guess he got a call from Obama threatening to go public with those pics of him and kids....ol Harry jumped into action right quick afterward....

no such person.

"" Liberal Progressive: “It must be incredibly
frustrating as an Islamic terrorist not to have
your views and motives taken seriously by the
societies you terrorize, even after you have
explicitly and repeatedly stated them.”

Terrorist: “We did this because our holy texts
exhort us to do it.”

Liberal: “No you didn’t.”

Terrorist: “Wait, what? Yes we did…”

Liberal: “No, this has nothing to do with
religion. You guys are just using religion as a
front for social and geopolitical reasons.”

Terrorist: “WHAT!? Did you even read our
official statement? We give explicit Quranic
justification. This is jihad, a holy crusade
against pagans, blasphemers, and disbelievers.”

Liberal: “No, this is definitely not a Muslim
thing. You guys are not true Muslims, and you
defame a great religion by saying so.”

Terrorist: “Huh!? Who are you to tell us we’re
not true Muslims!? Islam is literally at the core
of everything we do, and we have implemented
the truest most literal and honest interpretation
of its founding texts. It is our very reason for
being.”

Liberal: “Nope. We created you. We installed a
social and economic system that alienates and
disenfranchises you, and that’s why you did
this. We’re sorry.”

Terrorist: “What? Why are you apologizing?
We just slaughtered you mercilessly in the
streets. We targeted unwitting civilians –
disenfranchisement doesn’t even enter into it!”

Liberal: “Listen, it’s our fault. We don’t blame
you for feeling unwelcome and lashing out.”

Terrorist: “Seriously, stop taking credit for this!
We worked really hard to pull this off, and we’re
not going to let you take it away from us.”

Liberal: “No, we nourished your extremism. We
accept full blame.”

Terrorist: “OMG, how many people do we have
to kill around here to finally get our message
across?”"

Moe, I certainly agree as far as Americans are concerned. For the fleeing Christians and yazidis brutally targeted by isil it's unfortunate. You can't blame them for terrorists killing them then infiltrating them as they flee their homeland.

Sassy, you misunderstood 'heart in the right place' it didn't refer to the refugees, it applies to those trying to help the refugees out of the goodness of their hearts. The Yazidi who prompted early airstrikes against isil are a very small non zealous sect of Muslims. They don't have a country, a city, a police force. All the could do was flee and seek shelter to care for the children and elderly. They were defenseless. That doesn't mean they should come here, but they couldn't stay where they were.
As far as bringing refugees to America I was against it before the attacks. We need to get rid of the 13+M.
I think the Saudis Kuwaitis Jordanians Egyptians Turks and the like should lead in the fight against isil. They at least know the area, history, politics, businesses, connections better than we (the west) do.

Amazing... I never knew you spoke Farsi. I never knew you were a liberal progressive either, go figure. Be sure to tell the terrorist you're talking to that you speak only for yourself.

WTF are you babbling about now? You do know what quotation marks are, dont you? Are you blind? Didnt you see them? Hell, I already know the answer....you damn sure didnt see the gun in the hand of that Ferguson shooter in the pic in the other thread....or see the red shorts in the pic you said he wasnt wearing. Time for you to get an eye exam.

I wonder if the closed door meeting and lobbying went something like this:
"We need to accept refugees!"
"But what about potential terrorists slipping through!"
"Pshaw! You're a moron. They'll just go through the South American countries that are accepting thousands of refugees and hop free train rides to cross the border with all the other pregnant women and kids and illegals crossing.
Terrorists won't go through the American vetting system.
If you just accept them this way, it will translate to political capital about how open and liberal and loving you are."
"But the retards that voted for me don't want me to, and it might not get me reelected, the optics aren't good, man, I can't support ya here!"

My eyes work just fine.

Oh so its your brain....got it. And off topic is you not associating my post with liberalism and its excuse making for terrorists with obviously Muslim ties. If you cant see that, youre part of the problem. Now go make more excuses for people shouting "Allahu Akbar" before they slaughter innocents.
All this "all muslims are good" crap is just that...crap. Until that fact is realized, it aint gettin better....no matter how hard libs dream for it to happen.
There are 1.57 billion Muslims
Anywhere from 15-25 % are radicalized.
Heres some homework for you....figure out the number those percentagea make and figure how those numbers relate to certain countries populations. Hell, Ill help ya with the numbers...225,000,000 to 375,000,000 Muslims who are radical. Until we realize that.....and a call a spade a spade, we're screwed.
Now babble away about how your hero libs have an issue with calling a radical Muslim a Muslim. They damn sure wouldnt have an issue calling a Christian a Christian if thats what was happening...but its not. Deal with it.
Islamist terrorists killed over 30,000 people in 2014 in over 30 countries. Oddly, 100% of those Islamist terrorists also happened to be
Muslims. So weird.....huh? But make more excuses for them. IDGAF....Im bored with the PC;ness.