For some unknown reason information on the International Rescue Committee’s D.C. lobbying office came up in one of my alerts this morning. Maybe it’s because last week they put out an alert to tell supporters of the refugee resettlement industry to call US Senators working on the Gang of Eight plus Grover bill being marked up in the Senate Judiciary Committee today.
We told you about that here last Thursday. (Go there to see what you must do!)
You need to call today too! S.744 will increase the number of refugees and asylees in the US and it provides a slush fund for “non-profits” like the 9 BIG federal refugee contractors and their 300 plus subcontractors.
I recommend that you tell Senators that due to recent refugee-perpetrated terrorism cases that they should strip all references to the refugee program from S.744 and hold separate hearings!
To add insult to injury, the word is that the US State Department helps to fund the lobbying offices for the contractors. I have written about that before especially as it relates to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (or any of the nine)—it infuriates me to think the Bishops are taking your hard-earned tax dollars to fund their lobbying campaigns!
Here is what the IRC says about their DC shop. And, btw, they were not at the State Department hearing on Wednesday. Where were they? Or did they feel they had an inside track to the State Dept and didn’t need to provide their wishlist for 2014 before their critics in public?
Oh, yeh, they do have an inside track—Anne Richard, the Asst. Secretary of State for the refugee program, just recently left the IRC as one of its 6-figure salaried veeps. Classic Washington DC case of the revolving door (federal contractors in and out of government jobs)!
The International Rescue Committee office in Washington, DC maintains relations with U.S. government offices, especially those that support some of the IRC’s programs. This includes the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Migration, and Refugees and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The IRC meets regularly with decision-makers on both sides of the political aisle, and in both the Executive branch and Congress, to raise issues of concern and advocate for change in U.S. government policies. The IRC is also active working in coalitions and with other non-governmental organizations. Members of IRC’s public policy and advocacy department in Washington, DC also plan and guide IRC’s global advocacy efforts [Like snuggling up to Hamid Karzai?—ed]. The Washington, DC office houses staff from IRC’s International Programs Department and the Women’s Refugee Commission.
Contact Us:
International Rescue Committee
1730 M Street, NW – Suite 505
Washington DC 20036
Tel: 202-822-0166
Fax: (202) 822-0089
e-mail: advocacy@rescue.org
Gang member, Senator Graham, has amendments to S.744 for the purpose of increasing security in the refugee program.
Senator Lindsey Graham still has two amendments pending that are apparently inspired by the Boston refugee bombers ‘success’ in killing and maiming innocent Americans on April 15th. We told you about them here and here. It will be interesting to see if those commonsense security enhancements make it through mark-up. You can bet the IRC is lobbying hard against them today!
Here is our entire archive on the IRC for the ambitious readers among you! They just hired former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to step into his $450,000 a year job as its new CEO.
Photo is from Philadelphia Gay News, here. Muslims persecute gays, so there is a big push to bring in refugees who are LGBTs from Sharia-loving countries.