Speech #810209374

Thus. if we accept the definition contained in the committee bill. the United States will be required to establish camps and staging areas in various parts of Germany and Austria. at tremendous expense. in order to arrange for the admission of these persons to this country. In addition. all transportation costs from Europe. to the United States will have to be paid for by this Government. Finally. there are only a limited number of visas available for displaced persons. If expellees are to be included as displaced persons. the number of visas available will be watered down considerably. since every expellee admitted to the United States as a displaced person will result in the admission of one less IRO displaced person. The substitute bill. Mr. President. provides for a fund to take care of these expenses. so only the substitute bill would make adequate and realistic provision for these persons. We are not unmindful that there are other groups of persons. innocent victims of a world upset by the uprooting of whole populations. In fact. we are fully mindful of the problem of the expellees and refugees of German ethnic origin. As evidence cf the careful and studied attention in this matter. I invite your consideration of section 12 of the substitute bill. The basic purpose of this section is to demonstrate our humanitarian concern for the plight of these expellees and refugees of German ethnic origin. The language of this section clearly shows that we are taking the proper means of making possible the entry into the United States of a number of these victims of world chaos. and under conditions and procedures which exactly parallel those which now apply to the displaced persons under the care of the International Refugee Organization. It is fair to state that unless the conditions outlined in section 12 of the substitute bill are applied to the expellees. they will continue to suffer from neglect. and the misunderstanding which now attends this matter will in no measure be diminished. I strongly urge continuing support of the original definition of displaced persons as contained in the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 with the cutoff date for eligibility changed from December 22. 1945. to January 1. 1949. I urge this because only by our continuing support of this definition can we bring about the early termination of the displacedpersons problem. This end can be attained with success before June 30. 1951. I need hardly inform any Member of the Senate that the successful termination of the International Refugee Organization will mean a considerable reduction in the appropriation of tax moneys. This will be a welcome relief to the already overburdened taxpayer. This should give us added encouragement in arriving at a decision of definitions which will be based solely on the merits of the issues involved.