Speech #940056853

Put does not amend the 1962 act. which is permanent legislation. T am aware--az my cu7eoc:.?s rethat these are hard times in America. H1owever. this does not char..e t fact that we have a moral obligation to welcoale the refugees of the Vietam war in the best American tradition. as we welcomed the Hungarians and the Cubans before them. I would remind those who have voiced their opposition to the admission of these indochina refugees that our Government had little choice other than to accept and provide for these refugees. Durfig an appearance before our committee. Ambassador Brown presented the options available to the United States once these refugees reach Guam in the following manner: The choice before us is to force them to return to their own country. which they fled from for fear of persecutionto leave them at seaor to accept responsibility for them. Quite properly consistent with our immigrant heritage. and recognizing that these are people who are now without a country. the United States has accepted responsibility for them. In my opinion. the plight of the Vietnamese refugees both requires and deserves an immediate and compassionate response on tie part of the Congress and the country. Furthermore. notwithstanding attempts in both the subcommittee and the full committee to have an allthorization ceiling inserted in the legislation. the bill which your committee reported contains an openended authorization. While in principle. I am generally opposed to openended authorization. I believe. and the committee felt that it was necessary to provide such an authorization in this legislation for various reasons. First. the estimates as to the total number of refugees under U.S. control fluctuate daily. Second. we are unable to accurately determine at this time the number of refugees who will eventually be resettled in the United States. and this figure is contingent upon the response of the international community. Lastly. we must recognize that we are in a totally fluid situation and emergent situations may arise at any time. However. there is an initial cutoff date of June 30. 1976. for ary funds which will be used for thirdcountry resettlement and for other overseas refugee activities. There is a final cutoff date of September 30. 1977. for the activities of. and services provided by. the Department of Health. Education. and Welfare. it is essential that we resume the flow of refugees as soon as poassie -d provide them wth . ecesrary liecorh care. clothing. education. vocational .raining. ard resettlelnent assistance. Likewise. moneys must be imiaediately made availale ta the voluntary agencies which are primari ly respoosibole for integrating these pcople into Ar ieii .:ciety. We hav. bee ccnineia_. a".s:ir thet this will be accomplished in a manner that avoids the displacement of American workers and thc high concentration of refugees in any particular locality. At the same time. the furdas aucho.-.ied in this bill are primarily designed to insure that refigees become as cuickly as possible selfsupuorting and productive taxpaying citisens of this cotry. I urge my colleagues to support this urgently needed legislation.