President. this amendment simply provides that the Federal Government will pay for the federally mandated bilingual ballots and other bilingual voter assistance. Not one of us visits our districts. those in the House or here in the Senate. without understanding very clearly that the States. counties. and local governments are struggling under fiscal restraints as serious. and in some cases even more seriousif that is possiblethan the Federal Government. This amendment is consistent with my position expressed recently at a refugee hearing that if the Federal Government decides in its wisdom to do things like admitting 130.000 refugees to the United States this year. it has a vivid responsibility to also provide the funding to reimburse the State and local governments for the costs of resettling these federally admitted refugees. It is truly irresponsible to pass laws requiring State and local jurisdictions to carry out Federal programs. and then pass the buck to the State and local governmentsperhaps I should say pass "spending the buck" to the State and local governments. and passing the unfunded Federal mandates to the State and local governments which have had to cut program after program is not right and not fair. If Congress believes that requiring bilingual ballots is a good thing to doI am sure they will. regardless of the evidence presented about the effectiveness for 17 yearsor that it is the right thing to doI can assure you that will be the case. at least in the value of political correctnessat least we should have the conviction to fin. the money to pay for it.
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refugee refugees