I would like to try not to bring in openended legislation. but it is hard not to in this instance. But let me first. in response to both gentlewomen from New York. say I would like to remind the gentlewomen and the Members that this is an emergency situation. and to bear that out I will read from the report of the House Committee on Appropriations on this measure. on this matter. where they report out $405 million. I will read two sentences: the Committee wants to make it clear that at this time it is Impossible to determine how many refugees will finally be processed or the actual per capita costs that will be involved in the refugees. Because of the current fluid situation and the lack of availability of hard flures at this time. the Committee felt Congress should move cautiously in this area until the situation begins to stabilize. Then separately the committee states this: The Committee recommends the amount in the bill for the purpose of funding this portion of the refugee program on a stopgap basis until more definitive data is available to determine what the actualneeds will be. It Is obvious from the report of the Committee on Appropriations that they regard this as we do. that this is a very fluid situation. This Congress has many things to do and I personally think there is no need for us to come back to this Chamber in 3 or 4 weeks or 2 months from now perhaps and go over this same groundwork again. It seems to me we will be serving the needs of the House and of the country if we deal with this as well and as expeditiously as we can. We do not know how many refugees are going to third countries. We do not know. of those who are at sea and over whom the United States has no control at the present time. how many will need welfare support. We are dealing with a fluid and emergency situation that may change radically in the weeks ahead.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees