Mr. President. I am sorry to say that much of the same is true for our refugee resettlement programs. In the last 5 years. the number of refugees admitted to the United States has nearly doubled. from 62.440 in 1986 to 122.328 in 1990. The funding level. which should be linked as closely as possible to the number of incoming refugees. has been erratic. In fact. the Federal dollars available per refugee in 1990 were just 42 percent of the support available in 1985. that figure does not even account for inflated dollars. I know my colleagues share my dismay at the lack of sufficient funding to cover the Federal share of refugee programs. The problem. it seems to me. is that there is simply no cohesion between fiscal planning and policy making on refugee issues. At the beginning of each calendar year. as my colleagues know well. the President submits his budget to Congress. which includes his requests for Federal refugee programs. Several months later. at the end of the fiscal year. he presents to Congress his projected per country and overall ceilings on refugee admissions for the coming fiscal year. But there is often no connection. and certainly none is required. between the level of refugee admissions and the level of funding requested to pay the costs of their resettlement. To me this is preposterous and a glaring effort to pass rightful Federal costs onto State and local governments. Mr. President. it is my understanding that Senator KENNEDY intends to introduce legislation to revise the Refugee Act in the next 2 or 3 weeks. Is that the case?
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Refugee refugee refugees