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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.
