Speech #940057050

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. Many of the letters I have received in the past few weeks from people of the Sixth District say that America should care for her own poor and hungry people first. and that we cannot afford to care for the 130.000 South Vietnamese refugees whom the President evacuated to this country. I appreciate the concern of those who have written to me. However. the decision has already been made by the administration to allow the refugees to come to our country. Whether we like it or not. since the Federal Government made the decision to bring the refugees here. the Federal Government should shoulder the responsibility of picking up the tab. Moreover. unless the Federal Government assumes these costs. State and local governments will have to make assistance available to the refugees. In preparing for todays debate. I checked some recent Supreme Court decisions having to do with aliens and their eligibility for various State and Federal assistance programs. In Graham v. Richardson. 403 U.S. 365. a 1971 decision. the Court ruled that aliens lawfully admitted to the United States may not be excluded from public assistance programs which are either Federal or State funded. The Court stated thatA States desire to preserve limited welfare benefits for its own citizens is inadequate to justify . .. making noncitizens ineligible for public assistance. and . . . restricting benefits to citizens and longtime resident aliens. As the Court pointed out. aliens. like citizens. pay taxes and may be called into the Armed Forces. Mr. Chairman. it would be clearly unfair for the individual States to be forced to take on the financial costs associated with a decision which they took no part in. We cannot place a larger burden on the people of some States than other States. and it is therefore only fair that the Federal Government assume the cost. I would also like to point out that the committee estimates that there will be no more than 35.000 new entrants in the job market from the refugee population. no funds can be used after fiscal year 1976 for other than functions carried out by the Department of Health. Education. and Welfare. and no funds authorized by the bill will be available at all after the following year. fiscal year 1977. As the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee has so eloquently stated. we are a nation of immigrants. Are the American people opposed to admitting refugees whose government lost a war? Are we afraid that the South Vietnamese will not be assimilated into our society? Or do we not want to be reminded of a long. painful. divisive war?