Speech #1100124178

Indeed. after we "won the war in Iraq." the situation became worse on the ground. and we witnessed the explosion of this crisis. For 2005 and 2006. the numbers of people we helped were miniscule. Out of the 4 million people who have left their homes. we allowed 198 Iraqis in the United States in 2005. and 202 last year. almost entirely people who were being reunited with their families. who had been made refugees in 1991. There were glimmers of hope this year. with the administration promising. to allow 25.000 people into the United States. which was the same number of refugees that the Prime Minister of Sweden told me that Sweden was willing to accept. Later. the U.S. number fell to 7.000. and then ultimately we only let 1.800 Iraqis in throughout the entire last fiscal year. Even that was after a lastminute rush. because the first 6 months we had only allowed 69 Iraqi refugees. There is good news. however. because due to an amendment by Senator KENNEDY that was adopted in the Senate for the Defense authorization bill. largely taken from provisions in our House legislation. we are actually going to be able to make some real progress. We will be able to process some of these refugees in their own country. Until now. people had been forced to leave Iraq. Even though we have the largest embassy in the history of the planet. they had to leave Iraq before they could apply for refugee status. We have an opportunity to increase to 5.000 a year those people who are at risk because they have helped us. These are important steps. and I hope they are approved. But much more needs to be done. First. we have to actually do what is authorized. Second. we need to put some real money into it. not just the $250 million for refugee assistance that is currently pending. That is rounding error. given the billions that we have spent in Iraq that we cant even account for. It is important for us to scale our commitment to make sure that we meet the humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of our war in Iraq.