Senate Democrats narrowly blocked a bill that would have severely slowed the flood of Syrian refugees who are headed for America by drastically tightening the vetting process that's supposed to screen out criminals and terrorists.

Common sense has left the building.

Reuters:

"This bipartisan bill would allow Washington to step back, take a breath and ensure it has the correct policies and security screenings in place," Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in the Senate before the vote.

Democrats called the legislation an attack on people who are fleeing war. They accused Republicans of holding the vote to allow their 2016 presidential candidates serving in the Senate to back legislation touted as tough on security.

All three Senate Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, backed the bill. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders missed the vote.

Democrats also sought to play politics. They tried and failed to reach a deal with Republicans to set up a vote on an amendment establishing a religious test for would-be immigrants.

That vote was planned to see if Republicans would side against presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has advocated barring Muslims from entering the United States.

The Syria refugee bill passed the House by a large margin days after the Nov. 13 Islamic State attacks in Paris. The bill was supported by dozens of Democrats who defied Democratic President Barack Obama's veto threat.

"We need to talk about efforts to defeat ISIS, not creating more paperwork for cabinet secretaries," Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, told reporters before the vote.

It currently takes 18-24 months for Syrian refugees to be screened before they can move to the United States.

It was recently revealed that 113 refugees have been ordered deported for ties to terrorists discovered after they arrived in the U.S.  The government has lost track of most of them.  So the question of whether the screening process is adequate to keep terrorists from sneaking into the country has already been answered.  The question that should be asked is why Democrats are so cavalier about our security when it is so obviously threatened by bureaucratic incompetence.

Besotted with political correctness and fearing to be seen as "intolerant," Democrats would rather see you dead than sacrifice their perceived political advantage with the American people.  That says all we need to know about what will happen if the Democrats win back the Congress in November.