Speech #970255901

Under Secretary of Health and Human Services David B. Swoap. and U.S. Coordinator for Refugees H. Eugene Douglas. The Presidents proposal for fiscal year 1983 as summarized above was presented to the congressional representatives. I stated my deep concern over the continuing problems of refugees. especially regarding the more than $1 billion being spent each year by the Government to implement the program. I expressed my satisfaction with the efforts made by the administrators of the program for living up to its commitment to keep fiscal year 1982 admissions considerably lower than the 120.000 ceiling authorized. In fact. as the table above indicates. total admissions for fiscal year 1982 were held to 97.297. I emphasized the need for further continuous action by the administration to get more countries involved in refugee resettlement activities to relieve the disproportionate share of the responsibility being borne by the United States. On the same day. following the closed meeting. a public hearing was held by the full Committee on the Judiciary to complete the twotier procedure. Witnesses before the full committee were Ambassador H. Eugene Douglas. U.S. Coordinator of Refugee Affairs. James N. Purcell. Acting Director. Bureau of Refugee Programs. Department of State. Alan C. Nelson. Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Department of Justice. and Phillip Hawkes. Director. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Department of Health and Human Services. The consultative Members considered the information received during the formal consultation process. as well as the various materials submitted by the administration.