Speech #940057068

I wish to call up my reporting amendment which is at the Clerks desk. This amendment would add a new subparagraph (b) to section 4 of the committee bill. It would complement the bills current reporting provision by requiring that the President provide the Congress with a complete report on the nature and scope of his refugee resettlement assistance program at least once during every 33day period following the date of enactment of this act. Let me make one point clear at the outset. I favor the provision of the necessary resettlement assistance to Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees. The United States cannot turn its back on these individuals simply because our direct involvement in Indochina is over. We should help legitimate refugees. just as we have helped countless numbers of refugees in other parts of the world in years past. At the same time. however. there is absolutely no reason to steamroll an openended and loosely defined refugee resettlement assistance program through Congress. During their testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. Ambassador Brown and other administration spokesmen said that their resettlement assistance figures are only estimates and that at this time more specific information is not available. I think that it is imperative that Congress require detailed reporting as the program develops so that we may better fulfill our responsibility to the taxpayer. We should proceed with this task in a rational and responsible manner. If we are going to authorize and appropriate funds for refugee resettlement assistance. we should at the very least be entitled to know how such funds are being spent. I am aware of the time element involved here. The refugees need prompt action on this bill. And they will get it. However. such timeliness does not abrogate our responsibility to demand accountability from the administration as to the specific uses of these funds. Nor does it preclude the possibility of providing such accountability. We must insist on it. My amendment. by requiring the administration to make periodic and detailed reports on the administration of the refugee resettlement assistance program and on the expenditure of funds for the program. will insure that Congress oversight responsibilities are exercised.