John McCain displayed the gut-wrenching photo of the drowned Syrian child on the Senate floor to urge US action
McCain, a Republican, stood next to an enlarged, close-up photo of Aylan Kurdi, who drowned along with his 5-year-old brother and mother when their small rubber boat capsized as it headed for Greece. McCain said the photo has "opened the world's eye to this devastating crisis."
McCain said it should haunt Americans that "the United States will continue to do nothing meaningful" about conflicts like that in Syria that have led to a surge in refugees.
"This image has haunted the world. But what should haunt us even more than the horror unfolding before our eyes is the thought that the United States will continue to do nothing meaningful about it," he said.
Secretary of State John Kerry said after meetings on Capitol Hill Wednesday that the U.S. will take in more refugees.
In his 15-minute address on the floor of the US Senate, McCain lent a reminder that the US has called the Syrian crisis the "greatest humanitarian tragedy of our times." He urged the press to stop referring to the people fleeing the conflict in Syria as "migrants" - because, he said, "these are refugees fleeing from torture, from murder, from killing, from genocide."