President. the amendment I am offering is a simple one. It is not designed to alter the purpose of the bill or to restrict flexibility. It is designed only to help us bring order and direction to the existing refugee situation. I realize that it is far from easy to evacuate more than 115.000 persons. to register them. provide for their temporary housing. feeding and health. conduct the necessary checks. resettle them in our Nation. and provide them with the assistance which would reasonably enable them to make a new life for themselves. At the same time. it is imperativeboth for the good of the refugees and for the good of our own citizensthat our resettlement efforts be undertaken in a comprehensive and orderly fashion. The amendment would. therefore. require a report to the Congress within 30 days after passage of the legislation. The report would include information regarding the numbers and various categories of refugees. their current status. their employment situation and the demands which they could be expected to make on State and local governments. Furthermore. the amendment requires that the report contain a plan formulated pursuant to specified guidelines for the resettlement of those yet to be settled. Various committees of the House and Senate have been conducting hearings in the past days on the refugee problem. As a result of these hearings. several points are obvious: Additional funds are needed at once. the existing refugee centers are overcrowded. resettlement is not going as rapidly as we would wish. there is still substantial confusion and uncertainty over final resettlement arrangements. In such a situation. it is clear that we must act promptly. In doing so. however. we must also act wisely.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees