Speech #980173617

President. the human crisis in El Salvador is alarming and America shares responsibility for meeting the challenge. Close to onehalf million people are displaced. many live in camps under deplorable conditions. Over 10 percent of El Salvadors population are refugees or displaced persons. These urgent. growing relief needs must be met. Last September. the Senate adopted an amendmentKennedySimpsonto the State Department authorization bill that earmarked $10 million for displaced persons in El Salvador. The appropriation bill however. did not fully fund the refugee assistance account. In fact. the State Department has submitted a supplemental request for $14.6 million. of which $8 million is intended for El Salvador. I understand that the Department has indicated refugee assistance in Africa will have to be cut back to met needs in El Salvador if this supplemental request is not met. This amendment provides an appropriation of $10 million to fully fund the El Salvador provision. Otherwise. U.S. refugee programs elsewhere will suffer. If it is so urgent to get bullets to El Salvador. surely it is no less urgent to get relief to the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in that country. It takes no sense to pour millions of dollars of military assistance into a goverment that cannot provide basic assistance to its citizens displaced by the conflict for which more military aid is sought.