Mr. President. I submit this amendent for the purpose of permitting us to ascertain the total cost to the American taxpayer of all of our refugee programs. I was struck by the remarks of the distinguished Senator from Ohio when he indicated that it is necessary for us to continue to monitor our efforts in this area so that we know what impact it may have on this country so that we will know whether or not we are doing the right thing as far as the refugees are concerned and as far as the citizens of the United States are concerned. One of the difficulties that I have noted in attempting to analyze the efforts of the United States has been that it is not always easy to determine what our total expenditures in this field happen to be. The purpose of this amendment is just simply to give to Congress on a periodic basis the actual cost of our refugee assistance both within the United States and anywhere else in the world that they might occur. Mr. President. within the last 2 years there have been substantial increases in the domestic and foreign refugee assistance programs which are funded by the United States. Because this assistance is spread among many different programs. it is extremely difficult to ascertain the total cost of these efforts. During the debate on the refugee reform bill. S. 643. I determined. after a great deal of time and effort. that the total cost would probably be over $1 billion in fiscal year My amendment to S. 1668 would provide a clear picture of exactly how much the American people are providing in the form of their tax dollars. to assist the refugees of the world. It would require the President to report to Congress within 60 days on the total cost of our foreign and domestic refugee assistance programs in fiscal years 1980 and 1981. It would also require a goodfaith estimate of the costs which must be borne by State and local governments. This amendment would prevent the true costs from being hidden among a variety of different programs. some of which are not categorized as refugee programs. For example. approximately $160 million of the food stamp program goes to refugees. In October of this year the Roper Organization officially released a poll which showed that 72 percent of the American people believe that we should admit less than 7.000 refugees per month. The primary reasons for this opinion were that we should help our own needy first and that refugees are too much of a burden because of the expense of resettling them. I am certain that if more people knew the actual cost of refugee assistance. the result of this poll would have been more one sided. Mr. President. in order for a democratic government to operate effectively the citizens and elected officials must be adequately informed on the issues. My amendment will assure that there is adequate information about a cost to the American taxpayer which is growing by astronomical proportions. I do not advocate that we stop our refugee assistance efforts. However. I do believe that we must not continue to ask the American public to carry a disproportionate share of the burden for the worlds 14 million refugees. I believe that the columnist William Raspberry accurately reflected the belief of most Americans when he stated: I am proud of America for opening its doorsand is heartsto the "boat people." But I do wish that we could save some of our sympathyand our cashfor our own "wretched refuse" who. no less than Hungarians or Cubans or Vietnamese. want a chance at the good life the country has to offer. I believe the managers of the bill have had an opportunity to look at this amendment and they are in agreement with it.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees