Madam President. late last month the Board of Directors of the National Migration Forum and the InterActions Committee on Migration and Refugee Affairs attempted to pay tribute to the long and distinguished service of Wells Klein. a longtime servant and advocate for refugees around the world. Unfortunately. the event was canceled because of the winter storm over Washington. But no storm can diminish his record of service. and I am pleased to join with Senator SIMPSON in offering these brief words of tribute. Wells Klein is retiring after 20 years as executive director of the American Council for Nationalities Service. However. those of us who have served on the Senate Refugee Subcommittee knew of his work and valued his counsel long before he joined the Council. On repeated occasions during the Vietnam war. when we were trying to highlight the need and increase support for refugees and civilian war casualties. Wells served as a special consultant--traveling to the field. reviewing the situation on the front lines. and reporting the enormous human costs involved in that tragic conflict. And repeatedly he returned to our Subcommittee to outline his findings and recommendations and. in the process. to advance the cause of Vietnams war victims. Countless thousands were saved through his work during those difficult years. Madam President. he has remained true to this commitment since then. working to help resettle tens of thousands of Indochinese refugees. striving to highlight the needs of refugees and war victims around the worldin Cambodia. Central America. and. most recently. the human victims of the conflict in Bosnia. In addition. Wells has always been ready to help us wrestle with legislation to help resettle refugees. to do it better. and to do it so we could help more refugees. Over the years he has spent many hours testifying before our subcommittee and others in the House and Senate. We will always be grateful for his leadership in promoting wiser. more generous and more effective legislative tools for assisting refugees. Madam President. I simply want to join his colleagues in the voluntary agency community in paying tribute to Wells--for his years of service with refugees. his many contributions to war victims. and for his steadfast leadership of humanitarian causes. The worldeven a world in conflictris a better one today for Wells Klein having been here. and will continue to be. I am confident. in the years ahead as he continues his lifelong work.
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refugees Refugee