Speech #970190995

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the legislation we bring to the floor today is designed to improve the operation of our refugee resettlement program and to speed the assimilation of refugees into our society. It is also intended to reaffirm and extend the Federal financial commitment to reimburse States and localities for the costs of resettling refugees entering this country. H.R. 5879 is the product of extensive legislative and oversight hearings by the Subcommittee on Immigration. Refugees. and International Law during this Congress. The United States is. and has always been the most generous and compassionate Nation in the world with respect to refugees. After the Second World War. we accepted nearly 400.000 refugees from Eastern Europe. During the 1950s. another quarter million European refugees were admitted. In the early 1960s. enormous numbers of Cubans sought refuge from the oppressive government of Fidel Castro. In typical fashion. the United States responded and more than 600.000 Cubans were admitted to the United States. In addition. thousands of Chinese. Ugandan. Czechoslovakian. and Soviet Jewish refugees were admitted into the United States during the late 1960s early 1970s. When the Government of South Vietnam fell in 1975. Congress responded to the plight of Indochinese refugees by enacting the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. Under the act. we accepted over 300.000 Indochinese refugees. From 1975 through 1980 we also accepted over 100.000 nonIndochinese refugees. mostly Soviet Jews and Latin Americans. Since the enactment of the Refugee Act in March 1980. nearly 300.000 more refugees have been admitted to our shores. In sum. since 1975. the United States has resettled nearly 700.000 refugees. while the rest of the world combined has resettled only 450.000. In fact. California alone has accepted during this period nearly 250.000 refugees. In fiscal year 1981. the costs to the American taxpayer of resettling refugees and providing them assistance was approximately $2 billion. The aggregate costs for this fiscal year will be lower. but still substantial. The Judiciary Committeeplaying its consultative role in determining the level of refugee admissionswas able this past year to reduce the authorized number of refugees to be admitted from 217.000 in fiscal year 1981 to 140.000 in fiscal year 1982with the actual number of arrivals probably being closer to 100.000. Unfortunately. the resettlement of some of the recent refugees has not been as successful as earlier resettlement efforts. which is the major reason for the changes our bill proposes. The bill was reported out of the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 22 to 4 and it is strongly supported by the National Governors Association. the National Association of Counties. and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The primary purpose of this legislation is to extend for 1 year funding authority under the Refugee Act of 1980. Under this act. the Federal Government provides funds to reimburse State and local governments for cash and medical costs incurred on behalf of refugees. and to finance refugee resettlement projects in the various States and localities. As I noted. the committee bill calls for only a 1year extension of the authorization for funds because there are a variety of subjects and issues relating to the entire Refugee Act which must be reviewed in detail over the next year. These matters include: the process which determines how many refugeesand from which areas of the worldare to be admitted into the United States. the role of Congress in this process. the effectiveness of voluntary agencies in resettling refugees. and the fundamental question of "who is a refugee?" The Judiciary Committee restricted the scope of H.R. 5879 to those matters which needed immediate attentionwhich could not be left unattended for another yearand on which the Immigration and Refugee Subcommittee has compiled a full and sufficient record. The immediate problem addressed by this measure is the unacceptably high rate of welfare dependency among refugees. particularly the Indochinese. who have been resettled in the United States. It is a fact that approximately 70 percent of those refugees admitted in recent years are now receiving some form of public assistance. In the committees judgment. this situation cannot be allowed to continue and the bill sets forth three basic approaches to curing this serious problem: First. H.R. 5879 requires closer cooperation between welfare agencies and the voluntary agencies in the resettlement process. Second. H.R. 5879 tightens the requirements by which refugees become eligible for cash assistance. and Third. H.R. 5879 requires closer consultation of the Federal Government and State and local governments on refugee resettlement decisions. In its consideration of this legislation. the committee felt that these steps must be taken now if we are to succeed in reducing refugee dependency rates and to succeed in increasing the accountability of State and local governments. as well as voluntary agencies. with regard to the expenditure of Federal funds for refugee resettlement. I will now describe briefly the specific provisions of H.R. 5879. Section 2 of the bill. as I noted at the outset. provides for a 1year extension of the authorization of funds for domestic resettlement under the Refugee Act of 1980. This section authorizes such sums of money as might be necessary for domestic resettlement programs. Section 2 also authorizes appropriations of $100 million for social services and $14 million for initial medical screening and treatment. It was the committees view that funding for projects such as language training. job training. and job placement and certain other social services is the cornerstone of the Refugee Act and that adequate fundshere $100 millionfor these purposes must be made available to encourage refugee selfsufficiency. The committee also concluded that large numbers of refugees with serious health problems. including tuberculosis. leprosy. parasitical diseases. and other contagious diseases are being admitted to the United States because inadequate health screening procedures are applied to refugees when they are in the camps abroad. Once the refugees arrive in the United States. State and local health agencies are often forced to absorb the costs of assessing and treating the health problems of these refugees. I have been particularly concerned by this problem. and I have examined it in great depth during hearings by my subcommittee. I firmly believe that the screening procedures abroad must be tightened. and that additional funds must be made available to State and local health agencies to assist them in better responding to the health problems of incoming refugees and thereby. protecting the health and wellbeing of U.S. citizens into whose midst the refugees come. Section 2 of H.R. 5879 constitutes a marked improvement and a solid step forward. Section 3 of the bill establishes congressional intent that early employment of all refugees should be the main objective of our resettlement policy. In fact. the bill specifically disqualifies from cash assistance. fulltime college students. Refugees must not be entitled to subsidize their higher education with welfare payments. This recommendation was made by the General Accounting Office in testimony before my subcommittee on April 22 of this year and has been included in this legislation to make it clear that Congress expects refugees to seek and obtain employment. in entry level jobs if necessary. rather than becoming welfare dependents upon their arrival in this country. Section 3 also requires the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to study the desirability of establishing other methods of interim income maintenance so that a refugees exposure to the welfare system is limited to the extent appropriate and feasible. Sections 4. 5. and 6 of the bill make a variety of important andin the committees viewessential changes in the current refugee resettlement process. All of these changes are designed to mandate greater coordination among the various resettlement factors so that coherent policies can be developed to discourage welfare dependency. These changes include: First. a requirement that the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement establish a refugee placement policy which protects against the settlement of refugees in areas of the Nation already heavily impacted with resettlement cases. Second. a requirement that the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) establish a formal mechanism for quarterly "before the fact" consultations between voluntary agencies and State and local officials concerning the placement of refugees. Unless these consultations take place before final decisions are made on the number and type of refugees to be resettled. the consultations are meaningless. That is the case today. Third. a requirement that welfare offices notify the refugees sponsor and the voluntary agency involved in the resettlement process whenever a refugee applies for welfare. Fourth. a requirement that the voluntary agency notify local welfare officials when the agency becomes aware that a refugee. it has sponsored and is seeking to resettle. has been offered a job. Under the law. a refugees eligibility for cash assistance ends upon the receipt of a legitimate job offer. The committee also found during its extensive hearings that voluntary agencies have not been held accountable for their handling of reception and placement grants. These are grants of money-$525 per refugeewhich voluntary agencies receive from the Department of State to resettle refugees. In fact. some voluntary churchrelated agencies have built up substantial reservesin the millions of dollarsat the very same time that refugees whom they are sponsoring are receiving welfare. To correct this problem. H.R. 5879 provides that reception and placement grants are to be spent for resettlement purposes and not placed in reserve accounts or saved. The bill before the House also requires the General Accounting Office to conduct an annual audit of these funds. Finally. section 7 of the bill requires the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to conduct a study of the desirability and feasibility of establishing an impact aid program for States and localities which have high concentrations of refugees. The committee was not prepared to order such a program without a detailed and careful study of the costs as well as benefits accruing to States and localities which receive refugees. But. a study is clearly indicated because some States and municipalities are experiencing quite severe financial and social stress which they claim stems from the presence and the activities of refugees. We need the facts and the answers such a study will elicit. In short. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 5879 recognizes the continuing Federal responsibility to reimburse States for costs which result directly from the purely Federal decisions of how many and which refugees are to be admitted to the United States. Currently. the States and localities have nothing to say about the refugee program but they have to pay many of the bills. This is not equitable. I believe the refugee program continues to be an essential and humanitarian program. but it should not be continuedin fairness to the refugee being deposited in a strange. new environment and in fairness to the State and local governmental unit where the refugee takes up residenceunless the Federal Government is willing to meet its financial responsibilities. I urge my colleagues support for this legislation. It will enable the Federal Government to discharge properly its responsibilities as well as to promote greater selfsufficiency on the part of refugees who come to this country. At the appropriate time. I insert into the RECORD at this point letters from the U.S.