GOP lawmakers might try to threaten a government shutdown over the Syria refugee debate

In light of the Islamic State's deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, Republican legislators are calling on the White House to implement more oversight in its plan to accept up to 10,000 refugees from Syria in the next year, Politico reports.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is advocating attaching a provision to the spending bill Congress must pass in December that would change the U.S. plan on Syrian refugees — and potentially force a government shutdown.

"Our track record on screening is very poor. My [immigration] subcommittee has identified at least 26 foreign-born individuals inside the United States charged with or convicted of terrorism over approximately the last year alone," Sessions wrote in a letter to Congress on Monday. "The barbaric attacks in Paris — an assault on civilization itself — add immense new urgency."

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Meanwhile, at least 19 governors so far, most of them Republican, have announced refusals to accept refugees from Syria. One of the Paris suicide bombers is thought to have passed through Greece and entered France in the flow of migrants and refugees, reportedly with a forged Syrian passport.

President Obama has said Syrian refugees entering the U.S. will be thoroughly screened to weed out potential terrorists.

Update 5:40 p.m.: This story was updated to reflect that more governors, including at least one Democrat, have said they'll try to refuse Syrian refugees.