[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16497-16498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                     SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, last night, I was at National Airport 
awaiting Delta Flight 3395, 9:52 p.m.
  Shortly after 10 p.m., Janis Shenwari, his wife, and two small 
children emerged to be greeted by Captain Matt Zeller. They had been 
kept under wraps as they made their way from Afghanistan to the United 
States. There was just one television camera there to record this happy 
ending as Captain Zeller wrapped Janis in a big bear hug.
  It was a happy ending to a story with many ups and downs, all too 
familiar for those of us who had been working with the Special 
Immigrant Visa program to secure the flight to safety from Iraq and 
Afghanistan for those foreign nationals who worked with Americans as 
drivers, as interpreters, as guides. Janis was an interpreter who saved 
the life of Captain Matt Zeller in a firefight.
  He, for 5 years, has been stuck in sort of a bureaucratic limbo as 
Captain Zeller dedicated his time and energy to secure the release of a 
man he referred to as his brother. It happened--despite the fact that 
there was a false start where Janis had been given the visa, sold his 
possessions, prepared his family, only to have it revoked at the last 
minute--we think because the Taliban learned of this and leaked false 
information that he was, in fact, a collaborator.
  His arrival to safety in the United States was testimony to a little 
bipartisan cooperation--some people in the much maligned faceless 
bureaucracy who went the extra mile, who administered a couple of 
polygraph tests to

[[Page 16498]]

him and, within 3 hours after the end of the government shutdown, 
reissued the visa and sent Janis and his family on their way to safety. 
They woke up this morning in their own little apartment in Arlington to 
a new life, but thousands who risked their lives for Americans are 
still held hostage, at risk themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Earlier this month, in the midst of all the chaos surrounding the 
government shutdown and the harsh rhetoric on the floor, we were able 
to keep alive the visa program for Iraqis. We brought it back to life 
after it expired September 30. I would hope the same show of bipartisan 
support and bureaucratic activity, cooperation, and tenacity necessary 
to protect the visa program, and to make it work in the case of Janis, 
could be brought to bear to make sure that this program is extended for 
several years to allow escape to safety for other Iraqis in 
Afghanistan; that we can smooth the working of the agencies to expedite 
the granting of these visas from a trickle of a few dozen to a steady 
stream for the thousands whose lives are at risk because they helped 
Americans and they put their trust in us.
  I think, as important as the lives of these people and their families 
are, and keeping our word, there is also a larger lesson, illustrating 
what can happen if we here in Congress are willing to work together. 
Yesterday, former House Minority Leader Bob Michel harkened back to an 
earlier era of extraordinary cooperation and civility that he enjoyed 
with Speaker Tom Foley.
  Last night at the airport, I saw an example in this one family alive 
and well and safe of that same civility and cooperation. Who knows 
where that example might lead us next if we are willing to follow it?

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