[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 268 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 268

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Syrian refugee crisis.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 24, 2015

Mrs. Shaheen (for herself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Markey, 
  Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Udall, and Mr. Murphy) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Syrian refugee crisis.

Whereas the Syrian conflict has driven more than 7,500,000 Syrians to relocate 
        within Syria, more than 4,000,000 Syrians to flee as refugees to 
        neighboring countries, and hundreds of thousands of Syrians to seek 
        asylum in Europe;
Whereas Syria's neighbors are on the front line of the crisis, and Jordan, 
        Turkey, and Lebanon in particular are currently hosting millions of 
        refugees, resulting in tremendous social and economic impacts;
Whereas Europe is facing its worst refugee crisis since World War II;
Whereas members of the international community have a moral responsibility to 
        provide assistance to Syrian refugees, as well as a national security 
        interest in addressing both the insecurity that is driving Syrians from 
        their homes and the spillover effects from that conflict;
Whereas all members of the international community, including regional powers, 
        should contribute substantially to the humanitarian effort so as to 
        avoid shortfalls like those experienced by the World Food Programme, 
        which has been forced to reduce its assistance to refugees;
Whereas the European Union has agreed to resettle 120,000 of the refugees who 
        have reached frontline European nations--an important first step in 
        implementing a comprehensive European refugee policy;
Whereas the Governments of Germany and Sweden, among others, have shown great 
        generosity towards Syrian refugees;
Whereas the United States Government remains the largest contributor to the 
        humanitarian effort in Syria;
Whereas the United States Government will accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees 
        next year, marking a significant increase from the approximately 1,500 
        admitted since the conflict began; and
Whereas the United States Government should continue to rigorously employ its 
        existing robust and thorough screening process for refugees to 
        effectively mitigate any potential security threats: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes the scale and complexity of the Syrian 
        refugee crisis and the need for the international community to 
        work together to provide resources and capacity to aid 
        refugees;
            (2) recognizes the generosity and humanitarian commitment 
        of Syria's neighbors who have worked to absorb the vast 
        majority of refugees, as well as the European nations who have 
        made commitments to share in the refugee resettlement effort;
            (3) welcomes the President's decision to admit at least 
        10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, and to increase the overall 
        number of refugees received by the United States to 85,000 in 
        2016 and 100,000 in 2017, as an important continuation of 
        United States humanitarian efforts; and
            (4) recognizes that the refugee crisis is a symptom of the 
        broader conflict in Syria, the persecution of persons based on 
        identity groups, including Christians, Yezidis, Turkmen, and 
        Kurds, and instability in the Middle East and North Africa, and 
        that efforts to resolve those challenges are a necessary 
        component of any plan to address the refugee crisis.
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