Speech #980137680

Mr. Speaker. this is a noncontroversial bill and it is sponsored by every member of the Subcommittee on Immigration. Refugees. and International Law. which I have the privilege to chair. It was passed unanimously by the full Judiciary Committee and I hope my colleagues will also support it. The Refugee Act of 1980. as originally enacted. contained a 3year authorization of appropriations. When that authorization was about to expire last year Congress enacted the Refugee Assistance Amendments of 1982. That legislation made some programmatic changes in the 1980 act in an attempt to improve this countrys refugee program. particularly in the area of domestic resettlement. The 1982 legislation contained only a 1year reauthorization because the Subcommittee on Immigration did not have adequate time. in the midst of its consideration of the Immigration Reform and Control Act. to explore the Refugee Act as fully as we would have liked. This year the subcommittee had more time. and it conducted 3 days of extensive hearings in June. We spent 1 full day analyzing the legal definition of the term "refugee" under both international and domestic law. and we concluded that the current definition as contained in the Refugee Act. is workable. sensible. and humane. Accordingly. this legislation does not alter that definition. Likewise. the subcommittee felt that the present consultative process for determining refugee admissions is satisfactory. During our hearings certain themes emerged from the testimony of the witnesses and the questions propounded by the Members. I have already spoken of two of those themes: That the refugee definition did not need to be altered and that no change in the refugeeadmission process was necessary. A third theme was that auditing of and financial accountability for the millions of taxpayer dollars that go into the refugee program was completely inadequate. A final theme was that the administrations proposal to consolidate specific refugee programs into a block grant was not consistent with the expressed views of Congress and was not in the best interests of the program. Like last years legislation. the bill before us today will help refugees assimilate into the American mainstream quickly. effectively. and without unnecessary reliance on the welfare system. When the subcommittee first became concerned about welfare dependency among refugees 3 years ago. the dependency rate ranged between 70 and 80 percent. an unacceptably high figure. This was bad for our country and. more importantly. bad for the refugees themselves. I am pleased to report the rate has been reduced and is much closer to 50 percent. But that is still not good enough. More improvement is needed. With that objective in mind. we developed the provisions of H.R. 3729. which I will now briefly outline. The bill reauthorizes the refugee program for an additional 2 years. through fiscal year 1985. It provides for such sums as are necessary for cash. medical. and educational assistance for refugees. The measure provides specific authorizations for three other programs: $100 million for refugee social service programs. particularly English language and job training. $14 million to reimburse local governments for programs of health screening and initial treatment for arriving refugees. and $50 million for targeted assistance to communities that are heavily impacted by refugees. The legislation before the House today makes two changes in the administration of the refugee program. First. the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). which administers the domestic resettlement program. is to be moved from the Social Security Administration. where it has been buried for the past 2 years. to the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). where it will receive more attention. ORR is too important an agency to be stuck in the bowels of the Social Security Administration. Further.