Chairman. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2621. the foreign operations appropriations bill for fiscal year 1992. and I should like to take a minute to highlight a few of the bills important provisions. According to the Department of State. the size of the worldwide refugee problem nearly doubled during the 1980s. growing from 8 million in 1980 to over 15 million by the end of that decade. The beginning of the 1990s has only seen this crisis deepen. as appalling human rights developments in Iraq. Somalia. Tibet. and Cambodia have caused the global refugee population to swell. Armed conflicts in Afghanistan. El Salvador. Mozambique. the Sudan. and elsewhere continue to generate the majority of the worlds refugees. H.R. 2621 addresses this growing problem by greatly enhancing the priority our Nation assigns to refugee assistance worldwide. appropriating $630 million for migration and refugee assistance. Within the refugees assistance account. the bill earmarks $80 million for the resettlement of Soviet. Eastern Europe. and other refugees in Israel. This is a cause to which Just about every Member of this House subscribed during the past two decades. We worked hard to see that this happy day would come when Soviet Jews would finally be able to leave the Soviet Union. For that reason. I am delighted that this bill. under the leadership of our chairman. the gentleman from Wisconsin . makes enhanced provision for the resettlement of those refugees. It is really a case of honoring a commitment that all of us. including the gentleman from Wisconsin . our chairman. have made. and I think the bill for that reason alone deserves support. I am also pleased that the bill contains my provision requiring the Department of State to redouble its efforts to urge the Arab League to cease the economic boycott of Israel.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees