John McCain displayed the gut-wrenching photo of the drowned Syrian child on the Senate floor to urge US action

Sen. John McCain displayed a photo of the body of a 3-year-old Syrian refugee on the Senate floor Wednesday as he urged stronger leadership from President Barack Obama on Syria.

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."

The number of refugees arriving in Europe has been growing every month since the beginning of the year, with about 330,000 refugees arriving so far, according to the European border agency. More than 2,600 are believed to have died while attempting the journey. 

Syria is the single biggest outsource of refugees in the world. More than 3 million refugees from the country have sought refuge in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq.