Speech #1100043948

We should keep faith with those who have served alongside our brave men and women in uniform. This is a basic moral responsibility and a simple issue of fairness. Yet in March. the United States admitted only 11 Iraqi refugees. Since the war began. we have admitted only 700remember. out of 4 million displaced. 1 am introducing legislation this week. the Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act. to address this ongoing humanitarian crisis to use all of the tools at our disposal. admitting refugees. providing assistance to the region. and using diplomacy to ensure their wellbeing. It creates a program to admit to the United States Iraqis who are at risk because they helped coalition or reconstruction efforts. It establishes a special coordinator for Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people and requires the United States to develop plans to ensure the wellbeing and safety of these Iraqi refugees. Most important. it increases the number of persecuted Iraqis who can be admitted to the United States as refugees. And. finally. it would authorize additional funding for assistance to those refugees. their resettlement and fixing the bureaucratic process that often hampers even the most wellintended efforts. I urge every Member of the House to cosponsor this broad. ambitious and comprehensive response to the Iraqi refugee crisis before it is too late. too late for the people whose only crime was working with Americans.