10
NO. 179
federal government have had to make program reductions to
conform to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings legislation. As a result
of these across-the-board funding reductions, the Department,
with Congressional concurrence, was forced this year to shift
over $9 million from the admissions program to meet critical
refugee assistance requirements in Africa and Southeast Asia.
In other words, instead of reallocating admissions numbers and
funds to meet other regional admissions needs, we were
compelled to cover high-priority relief requirements.
the need to reprogram is the primary reason for actual
admissions in fiscal year 1986 falling some 4,500 below the
ceiling.
Thus,
The assistance requirements for refugees in Africa, for
Afghans in Pakistan, for Cambodians on the Thai-Cambodian
border, and for other groups in Southeast Asia and elsewhere
remain substantial. Just a few weeks ago the Red Cross
informed us they were running out of money for their
life-sustaining food and medical programs in Africa. President
Reagan authorized a withdrawal from the Emergency Refugee and
Migration Assistance Fund to help meet the deficit, but that is
resource we can draw on only in exceptional cases, and within
a tightly delineated Congressional authorization.
In order to be able to meet these ongoing assistance
requirements without impairing our admissions programs, it is
absolutely essential that we be provided with adequate
resources to do the job. We are talking here about the lives
of literally millions of human beings.
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