[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7541]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE AFGHAN ALLIES PROTECTION EXTENSION ACT OF 2014

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 7, 2014

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today, a bipartisan coalition of Members 
in the House and Senate have introduced the Afghan Allies Protection 
Extension Act of 2014 in an effort to protect the thousands of brave 
Afghan men and women, from translators to drivers, who risked their 
lives to protect our service members. The Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) 
program was created to help them come to America if their safety was 
threatened as a result of their work on behalf of the U.S. mission.
  Too often, however, the Afghans who are supposed to be benefitting 
from the SIV program have been put through delays and a bureaucratic 
nightmare, and many have lost their lives. Today's legislation is 
intended to extend the program while fixing many of these problems that 
will enable the SIV program to function as intended.
  More specifically, the Afghan Allies Protection Extension Act of 2014 
authorizes an additional 3,000 SIVs for 2015; authorizes unused FY14 
SIVs to be carried forward and issued by the Department of State in 
2015; extends the Afghan SIV applicant deadline until Dec. 31, 2015; 
authorizes the Department of State to process all SIVs that meet the 
Dec. 31, 2015 application deadline until the authorized SIV cap is met 
or the processing deadline of Dec. 31, 2016 is reached, whichever comes 
first; provides parity in the definition of ``family'' between the more 
thoughtful Iraq definition and the narrow Afghan definition; and 
finally, allows a critically overlooked population of Afghans--those 
who worked for U.S. media outlets, NGOs and those who worked for the 
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)--to become eligible for 
an SIV.
  We have frankly fallen short of the mark. It is clear that these 
Afghan men and women are at risk and that the situation is likely to 
get worse rather than better. Should America be at war again someday, 
there is nothing more important than the ability to follow through on 
our word to aid those who risked their lives to protect our troops.
  You don't have to be an American to be an American hero. It's time 
for Congress to step up and do the right thing for these brave Afghan 
men and women.

                          ____________________