First. the House had placed language in the continuing resolution which would have forbidden ORR from publishing block grant regulations. The House removed this language from the bill to permit a clean bill to come over so that the Senate could swiftly process the continuing resolution before Saturdays deadline. Second. neither the Senate nor the House has reauthorized the Refugee Act. the authorizing legislation which governs the manner in which refugee assistance is channeled to the States. At this moment. both of the Judiciary Committees of Congress are reviewing the reauthorization legislation. The House Judiciary Committee has gone on record in opposition to the block grant/per capita proposal. The Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Policy has not decided the precise direction it wishes to follow in its version of the reauthorization bill. At a minimum. however. one can conclude that it would be patently premature for ORR to proceed with the publication of block grant regs when the reauthorization bill has not been approved by either body of Congress. I hope that this statement is an unnecessary amplification of congressional intent on this subject. Again. it seems unlikely that ORR would publish the regulations before the issue as to whether Congress wants block grant funding or refugee assistance has been decided. However. because many of the Governors of the States which have the largest refugee populations have come out in opposition to the block grant proposal. this precautionary effort seems warranted. I thank the Chair.
Keywords matched
Immigration Refugee refugee