美国众议院通过限制难民接收法案

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 289 to 137 to pass the bill to restrict the influx of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

The Republican-proposed bill requires the country's top security officials, namely the Secretary of Homeland Security, the director of the FBI and the director of National Intelligence, to certify that potential refugees from Syria or Iraq do not pose a security risk to the United States.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said before the vote that it's common sense to pause, revaluate and put higher standard in place when it comes to the security of the American people.

He pointed to recent congressional testimonies from FBI Director James Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jay Johnson acknowledging the challenges of trying to investigate refugees from war-torn Syria and Iraq.

"Our own law enforcement experts are telling us they don't have confidence that they can detect or block with the current standards in place that ISIl or ISIS is not trying to infiltrating the refugee population. This is an urgent issue and that's why we're dealing with this urgently."

President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed to veto the bill, saying the proposed bill is untenable and would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people.

Opponents of the bill argued that there is already a vigorous 18-month to 24-month vetting process for refugees. According to the White House, the total number of Syrians admitted to the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001 attack stood at 2,174. And none of them has been arrested or deported because of allegations they harbored extremist ambitions.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi criticized the proposed legislation, saying it missed some important and more practical issues.

"And what are we not doing. We're not addressing visa-waiving. We're not addressing guns. We're not addressing the fact that this bill only talked about people coming from Iraq and Syria. Our bill is more inclusive. It's smarter. And therefore it's stronger in terms of protecting the American people. "

In the Senate, a bill co-drafted by Republican and Democratic legislators touched upon the visa-waiving measure. If adopted, Europeans or other foreign citizens who have traveled to Syria or Iraq in the past five years will not be granted a visa waiver to enter the United States, a measure currently enjoyed by citizens of about 40 countries, all strong U.S. allies.

Peter King, a Republican Congressman, has also suggested a ban on gun sales to people on terrorist watch list.

A Bloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday showed that 53% of American adults don't want Syrian refugees resettled in the U.S., while 28% voiced support to the administration's pledge to take in 10 thousand Syrian refugees next year.

Xiaohong, CRI, Washington DC.