Denouncing the "spasm of rhetoric" over refugees, Obama said refugees already faced the most vigorous vetting process Lycra Fabric for anyone admitted to the country."This is an area where additional scrutiny and reforms could be useful in enhancing the national security of the United States," he was quoted as saying. An aide to Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman said his office got 2,710 calls between Monday and Wednesday opposing resettlement of Syrian/Iraqi refugees in the United States, versus only 58 in favor.The US Department of Homeland Security said members of two Syrian families - two men, two women and four children - turned themselves in to US authorities in Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border."

To ask me to have my FBI director or other members of the administration make personal guarantees would effectively grind the program to a halt," Lynch told reporters at a news briefing with FBI Director James Comey. He said it was important to act quickly "when our national security is at stake.Earnest said White House staff was talking with members of Congress on reforming the program.Lawmakers have been receiving an unusually large number of calls on the issue.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said the bill would pause the program the White House announced in September to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year.Ben Carson, a leading 2016 Republican presidential candidate, likened Syrian refugees to "a rabid dog running around your neighborhood," and said admitting them would put Americans at risk.It would require that high-level officials - the FBI director, the director of national intelligence and homeland security secretary verify that each Syrian refugee poses no security risk. It now goes to the Senate, also controlled by Republicans, where its prospects remained uncertain."

After the House vote, Obama's attorney general, Loretta Lynch, called such screening both impractical and impossible.'Spasm of Rhetoric'Speaking in Manila after meeting with Canada's prime minister, Obama said America had always been open to allowing people from war zones to find refuge in the United States, where they become "part of the fabric of American life"."The White House had said Obama would veto the House bill because it would introduce .

"unnecessary and impractical requirements" that would hamper efforts to help some of the world's most vulnerable people without providing meaningful additional security for Americans.Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said there was "no way" the House bill would pass in the Senate.While many Americans see the United States historically as welcoming to immigrants, accepting refugees from Syria has raised concerns the newcomers may pose a national security threat in a country where about 3,000 people were killed by al Qaeda terrorists in the September 11, 2001, attacks. 

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