This bill (H.R. 4038) would require that before a Syrian or Iraqi refugee could be permitted to enter the United States the FBI director would have to certify that a background check had been performed that was sufficient to ascertain whether the refugee would be a security threat,and that the Homeland Security secretary, with the agreement of the FBI director and the director of national intelligence, would have to certify that the refugee would not be a security threat.
The Senate did not vote on H.R. 4038 itself but on a motion to invoke cloture (and thus limit debate) so the bill could come up for a vote. The motion to invoke cloture was rejected on January 20, 2016 by a vote of 55 to 43 (Roll Call 4; a three-fifths majority of the entire Senate is required to invoke cloture). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because Congress is authorized to protect each state against invasion.
