Speech #960205004

An analysis of the anticipated social. economic. and demographic impact of their admission to the United States. Fifth. A description of the extent to which other countries will admit and assist in the resettlement of such refugees. and Sixth. An analysis of the impact of the participation on the foreign policy interests of the United States. Consultation with the Congress will determine admission in excess of 50.000 refugees per year in fiscal years 1980. 1981. and 1982. A sunset provision then terminates this normal flow authority. Thereafter. Executive decisions for admission of all refugees will be subject to consultation. It is expected by then the Congress will review the refugee situation and legislate appropriately. I should note that the allocation of refugee numbers. including the 50.000 normal flow also is subject to consultation and we expect that prior to each fiscal year we will be consulted with respect to allocation. The bill also provides that after the required information is submitted to the Congress a hearing be held on the issue of additional refugee numbers unless public disclosure of the details of the proposal jeopardizes the lives or safety of individuals. A statement setting forth the substance of such consultation process will be printed in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. I also wish to point out that the bill establishes an Office of Coordinator for Refugee Affairs to be headed by an Ambassador at Large. an office presently created by Executive order. It will be the duty of the Office to develop overall U.S. refugee admissions policy and to coordinate all U.S. admissions and resettlement programs. We adopted the rank of Ambassador at Large for the coordinator to enable him to negotiate with foreign governments. It is clearly in our selfinterest to continue efforts to encourage participation of other countries in refugee resettlement efforts. Obviously. the United States cannot accept all refugees seeking resettlement. and the world community must respond. We expect the coordinator to negotiate with foreign governments to assure internationalization of any refugee resettlement program. We also expect him to be the chief policymaker and to coordinate the efforts of various Government departments relating to the admission and resettlement of refugees. The bill also forbids the use of parole for refugees except in individual cases involving comoelling reasons in the public interest. Therefore. we expect very few refugees to be admitted who would come in outside the structure established in this legislation. I regret that the oneHouse veto provisions contained in the House version of this bill were not retained by the conferees. However. I do feel that this bill goes far in involving the Congress in the process of refugee admission through its consultation structure and certainly is a significant improvement over the present ad hoc procedures. I urge my colleagues to support the adoption of this conference report. Mr.