Florida. Washington. Oregon. and others have opened their doors and welcomed the refugees to their communities. However. if the Federal Government cuts off its assistance to the States for the basic resettlement costs. those States will. understandably. be reluctant in the future to participate so willingly in these resettlement efforts. I take a great deal of pride in the role the State of Minnesota has played in the resettling of the Indochinese refugees. We have 23.000 Indochinese refugees statewide and the single largest concentration in the country of the Hmong people in the Twin Cities area. Minnesotans are very generous and compassionate people. They have volunteered a great deal of their time. as well as ther money. to help the Indochinese get their feet on the ground and -to become welladjusted. productive members of our society. They have made their contribution. and now the Federal Government must fulfill its responsibility. In the Refugee Act of 1980. we made a commitment to the States to cover 100 percent of the costs for refugees for their first 3 years in this country. We have made a commitment to the States and now we must fulfill that obligation and oppose the 40 percent cut proposed by the Labor and Human Resources Committee. For the reasons stated above. Mr. President. I am sponsoring this amendment which will restore funding for the Indochinese refugee programs to the levels proposed by the Reagan administration.
Keywords matched
Refugee refugee refugees