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17 Refugee Reports 1 (1996)

handle is hein.immigration/refgrpt0017 and id is 1 raw text is: Refugee Rep m~s A News Service of the U.S. Committee for Refugees 1717 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 701 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 347-3507 January 31, 1996 BUDGET IMPASSE CAUSES HOLD ON REFUGEE PROCESSING; MORE SERIOUS CRISIS AVERTED AT LAST MINUTE Although recent government shutdowns caused a morato- rium on refugee processing in January, a third partial shutdown of the federal government was averted on Friday, January 26, when President Clinton signed into law another stop-gap funding measure (H.R. 2880). In doing so, a looming crisis in both overseas and domestic refugee assistance was forestalled, at least for now. Refugee program funding comes from three of the thirteen appropriations bills that must be enacted every year: Foreign Operations; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; and Commerce, Justice, and State. Foreign Ops The Foreign Operations appropriations bill provides funding for Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA), which includes overseas refugee assistance, refu- gee admissions (including the Joint Voluntary Agency processing function and the Reception and Placement (R&P) grants provided by the State Department to the national voluntary agencies), aid to refugees resettling in Israel, and the administrative expenses of the State Department's refugee bureau. Although passed by both houses of Congress, the bill had been stalled in a conference committee for months due to disputes over the inclusion of family plan- ning assistance (unrelated to refugees). The dispute was resolved on the 26th, and the entire $12.1 billion Foreign Operations spending bill was included in the stop-gap measure signed by the President. Thus, MRA is funded through the end of this fiscal year (September 30, 1996), at the full level of $671 million approved by Congress. This amount is exactly what was requested by the President and is the same amount as provided in FY 95. Within this total, approximately $126 million-$44 mil- lion less than last year-will be spent for admissions; the decrease reflects the drop in the refugee admissions ceiling from 110,000 to 90,000. Nearly $458 million will be spent on overseas assistance, with $80 million pro- vided for refugees going to Israel. The majority of MRA funding for overseas assis- tance is used to support the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR, in IN THIS ISSUE: Congress and the Administration forestalled a looming crisis in both overseas and domestic refugee assistance when they agreed to a stop-gap funding measure in late January. Jana Mason, govern- ment liaison for Immigration and Refugee Services of America, re- ports .................................... 1 * Recent Developments Last of Guantanamo Cubans arrive in United States ........... 5 Survivors of Srebrenica and Zepa still detained in Serbia ... 7 Chronology of 1995 U.S. refugee and asylum programs and poli- cies ........................................ 8 * Updates ............... 10 * Field Notes Jeff Drumtra reports on the situ- ation in Liberia .................. 11 * Resources ........... 13 * Statistics ............ 16 Volume XVII, Number 1

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