U.S. military assistance amounted to approximately $175 million. However. if Congress approves the budget submitted by President Reagan earlier this year. that assistance would increase to approximately $465 million. At the same time. the Reagan administration is proposing to eliminate the $15 million that Congress has provided in recent years to meet the very real human needs of the refugees on Cyprus because of what it terms budget constraints within the United States. Those budget constraints apparently do not apply to the $65 million increase that the Reagan administration is requesting in arms aid to Turkey over what was provided in the fiscal year 1982 budget. Mr. Speaker. these actions make little sense to me. It is clear that much remains to be done to alleviate the plight of the refugees on Cyprus and thus I will oppose eliminating the $15 million for Cyprus when the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee marks up the fiscal year 1983 budget later this year. At the same time. I believe that we need to signal Turkey of our determination on this issue.
Keywords matched
refugees