Mr. President. I am gratified that the Senator from California and the Senator from Alabama bring this resolution before the Senate to focus attention on the critical and complex issue of Vietnamese refugees. I am a cosponsor of the measure. The determination of the response of our Nation to the refugee situation presents a perplexing problem which calLq for reasoned and thorough discussion. keeping in mind our economic difficulties and the heritage of this country. It is essential that we refrain from emotionally charged and hasty judgments. They will serve no purpose and will only polarize the thinking of our citizenry and the views of elected and appointed officials. I strongly feel that this problem carries a clear moral obligation for the United States to actively seek a solution for the placement and the care of refugees. including resettlement in this Nation and. hopefully. in other countries of the world. It may be simplistic but in my view if the United States can spend billions of dollars supporting wars which in degree have devastated populations then certainly we can afford to spend some millions of dollars to assist refugees resulting from these actions. In my work in the Senate. through the Committee on Public Works and the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. I have strongly supported measures to -create jobs for unemployed workers and to strengthen our industrial and business base. My efforts toward these vital objectives will be continued. Nevertheless. I cannot ignore the plight of the thousands of refugees who are either in this country from Southeast Asia or have arrived in the Western Pacific. The overwhelming majority are frightened. helpless. and destitute individuals and families. These persons are already in this country or are being moved toward our shores under the direction of the U.S.
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refugee refugees