Speech #1020108593

Mr. President. I am pleased to join today with my colleague on the Immigration and Refugee Affairs Subcommittee. Senator SIMPSON. in introducing once again legislation to reauthorize the domestic resettlement authorities of the Refugee Act of 1980. It has now been slightly over a decade since the Senate has taken a comprehensive look at our countrys mechanisms for the resettlement of refugees. Over that time. over 1 million refugees have been successfully resettled. so there is much to celebrate and much to learn from. But at the same time. Federal resources for the program have declined dramatically. State and local governments. voluntary agencies. and refugee mutual assistance associations have been required to take up the slack in the Federal commitment to the program. Clearly. changes are required. Let me emphasize at the outset that we consider the bill we are introducing today to be a working bill. not a final product. We will be reviewing comments and suggestions before markup and before it is reported to the Senate. But it is a bill that has already been given considerable work and review. It is the product of extensive consultations over this past year with all of the parties involved in refugee resettlementthe administration. the voluntary agencies. mutual assistance associations. and State and local governments. It represents the results of a special roundtable discussion I convened last March. And the subcommittee conducted a thorough hearing on this subject on July 11. So this bill already represents a broad consensus on what reforms are needed now to make our refugee resettlement process more efficient and more cost effectiveand to give States. localities. voluntary agencies. and refugee groups a greater voice in resettlement policy. Mr. President. our bill would accomplish a number of goals. For the first time in our immigration laws. we clarify Federal goals and requirements for our Nations resettlement program. We state clearly that the goal of our program is to contribute to the durable economic selfsufficiency and full social integration of refugees. And we establish a clear Federal minimum standard of 12 months for Federal reimbursement of State costs of refugee cash and medical assistance. Second. our bill would bring muchneeded coordination of refugee admissions and refugee funding. Over the last few years. the President has proposed refugee admissions ceilings which respond appropriately to worldwide resettlement needs. However. the same commitment has not been demonstrated toward paying for the resettlement. In fact. Federal funding per refugee has declined by more than 50 percent over the past b years. Our bill would require that discussions on refugee admissions occur before June 1 of each year before the completion of the appropriations process. rather than in September after appropriations levels are fairly well determined. In addition. the President will be required to indicate in his annual budget submissions exactly how many refugees he intends to cover under the budget. If the refugee admissions levels he later proposes are higher than those upon which the budget was basedas has frequently been the case in recent yearsthen the President is required to indicate how he will make up the additional funding. Third. the bill establishes a clear system of refugee case management for States which face the greatest resettlement challenges. This case management will better endure that services are coordinated and not duplicated. The bill also authorizes. where appropriate. that States may permit case managers also to be responsible for administering any cash and medical assistance for which the refugee is eligible. This approach has been tried with some success in Oregon. and we would authorize the extension of this approach to other States where such action makes sense. Fourth. the legislation establishes a system of consultation and coordination between the Federal Government and other key resettlement actors on the State and local level regarding resettlement policy and procedures.