The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would pause and add more security measures to the entry process for refugees from Syria and Iraq. It passed with a 289-137 vote.
The bill, called the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015, would require that the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the director of national intelligence, and the Department of Homeland Security, all certify that each refugee from Syria and Iraq are not security threats to the U.S.
If passed into law, the bill would require the entry process for refugees to be halted until the new requirements are ready to be executed.
The measure comes after the terrorist attacks took place in Paris last week, as lawmakers are seeking ways to assure some constituents' concerns of safety in the U.S. Some say that one of the perpetrators of the attacks in Paris posed as a refugee upon entering France.
"The country is uneasy and unsettled," said Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who recently took the position of House Speaker late last month. "Our first priority is to protect the American people. We can be compassionate, but we can also be safe."
However, the necessity of the bill is debated among lawmakers and the White House. President Obama called the bill "unncessary and impractical," and said that it would "unacceptably hamper our efforts to assist some of the most vulnerable people in the world."
Opponents of the bill argue that the current vetting process for refugees is already thorough enough. The current process takes up to 24 months for a refugee to be resettled, and requires the attention of several different agencies. President Obama says the proposals in the bill "provide no meaningful additional security."
Opponents also argue that such new requirements included in the bill would not only pause the resettlement process for refugees, but potentially stop it altogether.
The bill did garner bipartisan support however. Though sponsored by Republicans, several dozen Democrats also voted in favor of the bill. Democrats who favored the bill said that they saw it as a moderate compromise between the stances of the two extremes of the political spectrum.
"I expected a bill that would make me throw up," Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told the Wall Street Journal. "I've been out in front arguing against the xenophobia and the racism, but what's been offered here is a bureaucratic fix."
"People are understandably worried, and they have a right to expect that their government certify the safety of the refugees," Rep. Sean P. Maloney (D-New York) told the Washington Post. "I believe we have a good process; we should be able to certify folks."
President Obama announced he would veto the bill should it reach his desk. The bill would now move on to the Senate for a vote.
