[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17687]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                LARGEST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN THE WORLD

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the largest refugee crisis in the world, 
other than the Darfur, is unfolding in Iraq. Four million Iraqis have 
fled their homes. Two million have fled the country, and an estimated 
20- to 50,000 a month or more are added to that toll.
  Yet the United States has been able, with all our resources, to only 
allow 70 Iraqis refugee status in the United States since October, only 
one in April, only one in May.
  It's time for us to accept responsibility to aid the people in this 
desperate plight. If there are any, any of my colleagues who have any 
doubt that we need to change the policy and reach out to them, I would 
urge that they seek out the soldiers who have returned home, who are 
fighting to try to save their interpreters and their guides.
  The heart-wrenching stories of people via cell phone trying to guide 
them to safety will, I hope, inspire you to action and encourage you to 
support bipartisan legislation, H.R. 2265, for Congress to do its job 
for these refugees.

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