Washington
Update
December 2002
Trading Places and New
Faces in Washington
By Lynette Engelhardt Stott, Director
for Government Relations
Out with the old, in with the new! I recently
had lunch with a Capitol Hill friend who was busy packing up
more than two decades of history. The member of Congress for
whom he had worked for 24 years had to be out of his office
by Thanksgiving to make way for a newly elected representative.
How quickly things change in Washington! One
minute the lame duck session is debating one of the largest
reorganizations of federal government—the creation of
a new Department of Homeland Security—and the next minute
the bill is passed and the 107th Congress is adjourned.
Some 65 new representatives—including
three new Lutherans—will be joining the 108th Congress
when it convenes on January 7, 2003. Not many of these newly
elected officials will have expertise on refugee and immigration
issues. It will be important for us to help educate them and
their staff.
The first month or so of the new Congress
will be consumed with reorganization, especially in the Senate,
which has switched to Republican control. In addition to electing
new leaders, reshuffling offices and committee memberships,
and reworking the rules of congressional operations, the 108th
Congress must also quickly address appropriations for fiscal
year 2003, which began October 1. The 107th Congress completed
only two of the 13 regular appropriations bills, leaving the
tough funding decisions for the new Congress by approving a
continuing resolution that extends 2002 funding levels through
January 11.
LIRS’s advocacy priorities for the new
Congress are as follows:
- Restore firm and generous U.S. commitment
to the refugee admissions program.
- Provide sufficient funding for resettlement
and for the overseas Migration and Refugee Assistance account.
- Expand on the recent victory for unaccompanied
newcomer children that came as part of the bill to create
the Department of Homeland Security, including monitoring
the implementation of these new provisions, developing an
infrastructure to provide pro-bono counsel to ensure that
children have adequate legal representation, and providing
guardians ad litem--persons appointed to represent minors
in legal proceedings.
- Implement release alternatives to detention
for low-risk detainees.
- Pursue legalization for undocumented workers
in the United States and promote just and humane approaches
to economic migration.
I’m very excited and motivated to be
a part of this work. I have always felt blessed to work for
faith-based organizations, but as a lifelong Lutheran, I am
delighted to have joined LIRS! I believe that our mission is
central to our calling as people of faith.
I look forward to working with you in the
new year as we call on our elected officials to pass legislation
that is fair and just for refugees and immigrants. The United
States has a long history of welcoming the newcomer. Now is
not the time to walk away from it. Our initial victory this
year on parts of the children’s bill proves that good
things can be won in difficult times. Let’s add to that
victory in 2003!
Read
past Washington Updates.
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