Speech #870124066

Mr. Speaker. the bill H.R. 8291 proposes to enact the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1961. recommended by the President in a message dated July 21. 1961. The original bill. as introduced by myself. contained the language suggested by the administration. After an extensive hearing was held and the subject matter thoroughly examined. the committee proposed to amend the original version of the bill mainly for the purpose of clarification but also in order to use a more precise language of those provisions which refer to the administration of the various programs authorized under this legislation. The Committee on the Judiciary recommends unanimously that the House adopt the amendment in lieu of the language of the original bill. The purpose of this legislation is. basically. to reenact three provisions of the old Mutual Security Act for which a substitute was approved last week in the form of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. These provisions authorize the continuation of the participation by the United States in two internationally concerted programs administered by the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. respectively. The third authorization relates to an assistance program administered unilaterally by the United States for the purpose of aiding the escapees from Communistdominated or Communistoccupied countries. The fourth assistance program authorized by this legislationassistance to Cuban refugees in the United Statesis a necessity which arises out of the fact that the United States has become a country of first asylum. Since the end of World War II this country has admitted close to 1 million displaced persons. refugees. and escapees from countries of first asylum. Now. we have not only opened the doors. but assumed heavy responsibilities in behalf of escapees from Cuba coming across that narrow body of water which. in fact. became an extension of the Iron Curtain established by international communism in the Western Hemisphere. The President in requesting this legislation has stressed the necessity for the continuation of refugee and migration activities hitherto authorized and financed by the Congress through the mutual security program. The President has. however. deemed it necessary to recommend that these programs be eliminated from the recently reshaped foreignaid legislation. The main reason for this. as explained to us by the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration.