Mr. Chairman. this amendment contains three parts-$30 million for Cambodian refugees. $10 million for international disaster assistance. and $3 million for Italian earthquake relief. These funds are contained in the conference report to H.R. 4473. the Foreign Assistance Appropriation Act for fiscal 1980. Inasmuch as that conference report has not been adopted. it is essential that these funds be provided. Because of the great disaster facing the Cambodians. it was necessary for the administration to divert funds from other accounts to this program. These funds have come from the disaster relief account in the Agency for International Development. the refugee program in the State Department. the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund and the foodforpeace program. Three of these accounts. the disaster assistance account in AID. $2.1 million. the refugee program in the State Department. $25.8 million. and the refugee emergency fund. $2 million. will be repaid $30 million from this appropriation. In the case of the refugee account. these new funds will be to provide additional assistance to Kampuchea (Cambodia) and to respond to other refugee crises. especially those of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and refugees who have fled to Somalia. The reasons that funds will be used for needs beyond Kampuchea is that the administration has been forced to divert funds from other purposes in order to meet the needs of Kampuchea. The administration made a decision last year that the emergency needs of Kampuchea were the most severe in the world and therefore channeled much of its assistance to that program.
Keywords matched
Refugee refugee refugees