Speech #930010663

The amendments I am introducing today are concerned with the people problems. and the kind of effort our country should make in helping to resolve them. I shall not burden the record at this time with any lengthy discussion of the people problems in Indochinafor the devastation war has brought to all the countries of the area is painfully clear to all Americans. But I strongly believe that our country bears a heavy responsibility in helping to resolve the crisis of people in Indochinain helping to restore the lives of refugees and orphans and crippled thousands. who bore the brunt of mortars and bombs and battle from all sides. We cannot wash our hands of their tragic plight. simply because the last American soldiers are leaving their shores. Clearly. our major responsibility remaining in Indochina. is to the people who live thereto those who suffered so much. for so long. The Subcommittee on Refugees. which I serve as chairman. conservatively estimates that up to 15 million war victims need some kind of relief and rehabilitation. In South Vietnam. nearly half the population of 18 million has been displaced. orphaned or maimed since the war began. Official estimates put the number of orphans at close to 1 million. Some 20.000 to 30.000 AmerAsian childrenthose fathered by Americansneed a special concernfor their plight has long been neglected by Saigon and Washington. Tens of thousands of peoplea good share of them childrenneed prosthetic devices. A large proportion of the 8 million refugees still exist in the swollen slums of Saigon and other urban areas. or in the squalid refugee camps maintained by the governmentmillions of people torn for years. from their homes and lands and source of livelihood. And even in the aftermath of the ceasefire agreement for Vietnam. many people still have no peace. The Agency for International DevelopmentAIDinforms me that new refugee and civilian war casualty numbers continue to mountadding heavily to the nearly 2 million refugees and 200.000 civilian war casualties of Similar conditions exist in Cambodia and Laos. where the battle and bombing continue. and the number of war victims escalates daily. And in North Vietnam all available indicators also suggest that humanitarian needs exist among a significant proportion of the population. In addition to the purely human toll of the war.