[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 7, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H7728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WE MUST DO MORE TO HELP THE IRAQI REFUGEES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, after more than 6 years of foreign 
occupation, occupation that never should have happened in the first 
place, American combat troops have been withdrawn from Iraqi cities. 
This has led some people to believe that the conflict is over. But our 
troops remain in danger so long as they continue to stay in Iraq. And 
the suffering of the Iraqi people, especially the refugees, hasn't 
ended either.
  A report issued last month by the International Rescue Committee 
described the bleak lives of the Iraqi refugees who have come to the 
United States to escape the violence in their home country. We admitted 
over 13,800 Iraqi refugees in the year 2008. Many of them had to come 
here because they worked for the United States military or the United 
States Government in Iraq and they became targets for retaliation as a 
result.
  A large number of the refugees are war widows with young children. 
They are grieving over the loss of their loved ones, and many are 
suffering war-related emotional distress or injuries. While the 
refugees are grateful to be in America, most are frustrated and even in 
despair. The International Rescue Committee says, A flawed U.S. refugee 
admissions program is resettling Iraqi refugees into poverty rather 
than helping them rebuild their lives.

                              {time}  1930

  The committee says that the Federal program designed to help the 
refugees doesn't meet their basic needs. The resettlement program is 
badly underfunded and newly arriving refugees get a mere pittance. The 
United States State Department provides $900 to each refugee. The 
refugees are also eligible for State assistance, which varies from 
State to State, but which averages about $575 a month.
  In addition, the refugees are eligible for Medicaid or a Federal 
medical assistance program, but the program runs out after 8 months. 
With this tiny amount of assistance, the refugees are supposed to pay 
rent, utilities, food, clothes, transportation and all the other 
expenses of daily life.
  Put yourself in their shoes. If you were a refugee, already suffering 
from trauma and injury, could you and your family make it in a country 
that is as high cost as the United States of America with so little 
help?
  The refugees are searching for jobs to help pay the bills, but we 
know how hard that is. And in Atlanta, for example, only 25 percent of 
the Iraqi refugees have been able to find jobs when they were here for 
over 6 months. Resettlement agencies, which received State Department 
funding, are struggling to do as much as they can, and they are 
providing a number of very important services, but their resources are 
dwindling because of the recession.
  As a result of all these problems, Madam Speaker, many of the 
refugees are destitute and facing eviction from their homes. Some are 
wondering if they should have stayed in Iraq, even though their lives 
would have been in danger.
  Madam Speaker, the Iraqi refugee in our country deserves better. The 
International Rescue Committee has called for an increase in Federal 
assistance to help alleviate the situation. We must support them by 
doing more.
  We had a hand in their upheaval. Now we must give them a hand in 
their new country. We have a moral obligation to act.

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