[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 138 (Thursday, September 24, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S6941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 268--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
                         SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS

  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:

                              S. Res. 268

       Whereas the Syrian conflict has driven more than 7,500,000 
     Syrians to relocate within Syria, more than 4,000,000 Syrian 
     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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