Your tax dollars:
Remember those lobbyists at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops I just mentioned in my previous post, or in the post yesterday where Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services is looking for a new lobbyist, this is what they are doing! This is what lobbyists do, I know, I was one once. They work hand in glove with government agencies looking for more money, your money (and in this case LIRS and USCCB will get their piece of the pie). They use your money to get more of your money!
They are working with sympathetic staffers and carrying around a Dear Colleague letter from that old progressive bully John Dingell of Michigan and some other Michigan Congressmen (well, Michigan needs your tax dollars because they have a huge immigrant population dependent on welfare and the state is going down the toilet). Dingell says we must fund the refugee program with an 18% increase in order to prevent a domestic refugee crisis. Hey, John, there is one already—it’s called too many refugees and no jobs.
How about no new funding until a financial audit is done on the program and all of its contractors!
Here’s John:
We are writing to urge you to support full funding of the President’s request for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance account within the fiscal year (FY) 2011 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. This account funds the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
Since 2008, more than 30,000 of the nearly 4.5 million Iraqis displaced since the Iraq war have been admitted into the United States and thousands more will be resettled in the coming years. Regrettably, funding for ORR has not kept pace with the increasing number of admitted refugees. Not only does this result in insufficient assistance to meet the short term needs of refugee families, such as groceries, rent, and employment, it also means that refugees are struggling to gain long term self sufficiency and become productive members of society.
Fortunately, the President’s budget request takes important steps to address America’s growing refugee crisis. The request funds ORR at $877,602,000, an 18.5 percent increase above the FY10 enacted level. The increase to ORR is offset by reductions within HHS, preserving the President’s commitment to freeze discretionary non-defense spending.
The United States has made a commitment to assist those who have been displaced during the Iraq War, many of whom are persecuted because of their cooperation and assistance to U.S. troops abroad. Providing a minimum level of basic assistance is necessary to keep that commitment and sends a signal of our support to those who are assisting us in the fight against our enemies abroad. A modest increase in refugee benefits included in the President’s budget will go far to help alleviate the burden on our states by helping more refugees obtain employment and self sufficiency, enabling them to thrive and contribute to the vibrancy of our communities.
Again, we hope you will join us in requesting full funding for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance account within the fiscal year (FY) 2011 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The text of the letter to the Appropriations Committee is below. To sign on, please contact Erica Fein, in Congressman Dingell’s office at 5-4071, or Carly Hepola, in Congressman Peters’ office at 5-5802.
Sincerely,
____________________ ____________________
John D. Dingell Gary Peters
Member of Congress Member of Congress
—-
Chairman David Obey
House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Labor, HHS, Education
2358-B Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Ranking Member Todd Tiahrt
House Appropriation Subcommittee on
Labor, HHS, Education
1016 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
March xx, 2010
Dear Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Tiahart,
We are writing to urge full funding of President Obama’s budget request for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance account within the fiscal year (FY) 2011 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. This account funds the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
Since 2008, more than 30,000 of the nearly 4.5 million Iraqis displaced since the Iraq war have been admitted into the United States and thousands more will be resettled in the coming years. Many of these refugees are victims of torture and persecution, or were forced to flee because of their support for American military operations. ORR’s purpose is to provide a lifeline to Iraqi refugees and Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIVs) holders, as well as other vulnerable populations such as Cuban and Haitian immigrants, trafficking victims, torture victims, and unaccompanied alien children, so that these new residents may achieve self sufficiency. ORR is charged with providing a wide range of services, including eight months cash and medical assistance, case management, job development, job placement, interim housing, English-language training, and social adjustment services and interpretation services.
However, funding for ORR has not kept pace with the increasing number of refugee admissions. The amount and duration of cash and medical assistance is widely considered inadequate to meet even basic needs such as rent or groceries for a refugee family. The total package of assistance available to refugees amounts to between just seventeen to forty percent of the federal poverty line. In some cities, average cash assistance for a family of five may be as low as $700 per month. Additionally, ORR’s funding formula relies on admissions numbers from the prior 3 years, and thus fails to capture and divert resources to areas receiving large numbers of recent Iraqi refugees. Furthermore, the economic recession, which has caused high unemployment throughout the country, has equally affected the ability of resettled refugees to gain employment. A recent report by the Georgetown Law Center found in some areas as few as 10% of refugees have obtained employment at the end of the eight month benefit period. Refugees who do not find employment are forced to rely on traditional welfare programs, straining the resources of state agencies, local non-profits, and charities who struggle to provide basic services.
The President’s budget request takes important steps needed to address America’s growing refugee crisis. The request funds ORR at $877,602,000, an 18.5 percent increase above the FY10 enacted level. The request also will also provide for a contingency fund that can target resources to areas experiencing high levels of secondary migration or refugee admissions that are not immediately accounted for under the ORR funding formula. The President’s request for an increase in the ORR budget is offset by reductions within HHS, preserving his commitment to freeze discretionary non-defense spending.
The United States has made a commitment to these refugees, many of whom are persecuted because of their cooperation and assistance to U.S. troops abroad. Providing a minimum level of basic assistance is necessary to keep that commitment and sends a signal of our support to those who are assisting us in the fight against our enemies abroad. A modest increase in refugee benefits included in the President’s budget will go far to help alleviate the burden on our states by helping more refugees to obtain employment and self sufficiency, enabling them to thrive and contribute to the vibrancy of our communities. We hope you will consider fully funding President Obama’s FY11 budget request for ORR.
Sincerely,