LEAHY. Mr. President, last Friday, President Trump announced that
he will slash our refugee admissions to 45,000 in fiscal year 2018--the
lowest annual target since the passage of the 1980 Refugee Act. Instead
of embracing our moral and legal obligation to address the worst
refugee crisis in global history, as has been our tradition for
decades, President Trump seems intent on relinquishing our role as the
humanitarian leader of the world. The dimming of our beacon is not just
a symbolic loss; tens of thousands of human lives are now placed at
risk. There is no rational basis for this shameful retreat. The
administration's own analysis shows that refugees contributed a net
benefit of $63 billion to our economy between 2005 and 2014. National
security leaders across the political spectrum, including former
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen, are unanimous in
their view that refugees are the most stringently vetted travelers to
the United States. Our commitment to welcoming refugees plays a
critical role in strengthening our alliances in areas of conflict. The President stands alone in his disregard for the staggering
suffering we are witnessing around the world. Last month, the Senate
Appropriations Committee--on which I serve as vice chairman--
unanimously approved a funding bill that demonstrates our unwavering
commitment to refugees. It fully funds offices that are critical to the
continuity of refugee programs and even provides a $50 million increase
to the State Department's refugee assistance and resettlement missions. Our bipartisan bill repudiates any claims by President Trump that the
United States is unwilling to commit the resources required to fund a
refugee program that honors our history as a refuge for the persecuted. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation has called on President Trump
to set annual refugee admissions ``based on historical refugee
levels,'' which have never dropped below 67,000 per year since the
beginning of the Reagan administration. I am proud that my own State of Vermont has welcomed and resettled
approximately 7,500 refugees since fiscal year 1989. The city of
Rutland was preparing to resettle an additional 100 refugees mainly
from Syria last year and this fiscal year, until the Trump
administration inexplicably halted certain refugee admissions and
announced drastic reductions to the refugee resettlement program. Vermont and other States stand ready to do more to address this global
crisis, but the leader of our country is shamefully directing them to
do less. Presidents have an obligation to protect our Nation's fundamental
values.
Keywords matched
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