Mr. Speaker. this is a short. to the point. yet important measure that would reauthorize appropriations for fiscal years 1993 and 1994 for the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. Since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980 the United States has accepted and resettled over 1.3 million refugees from around the world through our formal. refugee admissions process. In most cases members of refugee populations had little or no time to plan their lives in the United States. They were thrust out of their own countries because of persecution. not because good jobs were available or because they preferred to live with relatives in the United States. In short. this is a hardship population and. recognizing that. the Refugee Act set up a resettlement system designed to address their unique needs. Providing an adequate budget for refugee resettlement is productive and actually helps save money in the long run. Cash and medical assistance is provided to refugees so that they may learn English and receive job training. Without resettlement assistance. our public assistance entitlement programs. which already consume a huge percentage of the Federal budget. would swell with the ranks of newly arrived refugees. The current appropriation for fiscal year 1993 for refugee resettlement is $381.5 million. However. the administration has determined that this is inadequate to fund the program and has requested a supplemental appropriation of $15 million for fiscal year 1993. This supplemental appropriation would allow for the continuation of 8 months of refugee cash and medical assistance. In the absence of this appropriation. cash and medical benefits will be exhausted by July 31. 1993. The administration has requested $420 million for fiscal year 1994 to resettle the same number of refugees. Thus. there should not be a need for a supplemental appropriation next year. The supplemental appropriations bill recently reported out of the House Appropriations Committee does not contain the additional amount that the administration has asked for.
Keywords matched
refugees Refugee refugee