At this time. I want to highlight a number of the provisions Included in the bill. as reported by the Foreign Affairs Committee. One of the most significant provisions of H.R. 1415. is the authorization of additional moneys for migration and refugee assistance. This significant Increase--from $485.6 million to $600 millionreflects the grave. desperate needs of the millions whose lives have been uprooted by war. civil strife. famine. or natural disaster. It is estimated that 18 million people are on the move. struggling to keep body and soul together. The most affected group of refugees are the children and their mothersestimated at about 80 percent of the refugee population in Africa. and 50 percent of the refugee population in northern Iraq. The moneys in this bill are targeted at the special needs of refugees forced to flee their homes in Liberia. Sudan. Nicaragua and El Salvador. and Afghanistan. for the Palestinlans in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. and. of immediate need. assistance for the hundreds of thousands who took flight from postwar. Husseinterrodzed Iraq. The funds earmarked for refugees in Israel are expected to contribute to the costs of transportation of Soviet and East European citizens. as well as the resettling of Ethiopian Jews in Israel. In addition to U.S. assessed contributions to over 40 international organizations such as the United Nations. the bill includes moneys for the payment of arrearages owed by the United States. Following passage of the SolomonKassebaum amendment which I supported at the time of its passage in 1985. the United States began to withhold a percentage of assessed contributions. and arrearages have accumulated.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees