Washington Update
July 2004

Refugee Program Funding Crisis
By Lynette Engelhardt Stott, LIRS Director for Government Relations

Congress and the president are now in the process of determining how many refugees will be allowed to come to the United States next year and how much funding will be available for refugee assistance in this country and overseas. The determining factor is the amount of money Congress and the administration provide through the annual appropriation process for key refugee accounts. LIRS is deeply concerned that insufficient funds may be made available, resulting in cuts in refugee admissions, services and overseas protection.

The Migration and Refugee Assistance account (MRA)—part of the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, which will soon be marked up in the House—provides funding for the processing of refugees for admission to the United States and initial resettlement expenses. MRA also provides funding for overseas refugee assistance, including the physical and legal protection of refugees and the provision of food, shelter, health services and other vital assistance. Another account in the Foreign Operations bill—the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance account (ERMA)—funds unexpected refugee emergencies.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) account—part of the Labor/HHS appropriation bill—provides funding to assist refugees and other special populations in obtaining economic and social self-sufficiency in the United States. ORR oversees several programs, including the matching grant program, that assist refugees integrating in the United States; provides aid to victims of torture and trafficking; and helps care for and place unaccompanied alien children in appropriate settings.

March’s Washington Update highlighted President Bush’s proposal to cut the MRA account by $30 million on top of the previous year’s $21 million cut. Recent reports from the State Department and funding announcements in Congress suggest that the funding situation is even grimmer than the president’s proposal suggested.

The State Department has just told us that due to increased admissions this year, very little carryover funds will be available next year to supplement the MRA account. This puts even more pressure on Congress to increase funding above the president’s proposal. However, the House and Senate Foreign Operations subcommittees, which have jurisdiction over the MRA account, have received $1.9 billion less than President Bush requested. This means that it will be extremely difficult for Congress to increase funding for the MRA account above the president’s request.

This proposed cut to the MRA account comes at a time when the per capita cost of refugee resettlement has increased and humanitarian needs around the world are increasing. The funding levels proposed by the president are not sufficient to sustain 50,000 refugee admissions, let alone raise them to historically higher levels.

If funding for the MRA account is cut, nongovernmental organizations providing refugee assistance in Africa, Asia and the Balkans would likely be hard hit. Our Lutheran partners, Lutheran World Federation and Lutheran World Relief, could lose federal funding for their relief work in Kakuma camp in Kenya and other parts of the world.

We are also concerned that Congress will not provide sufficient funds for two other key refugee accounts—ERMA and ORR.

Please contact your members of Congress immediately and urge them to protect funding for refugee assistance and resettlement by supporting the following funding levels in the fiscal year 2005 appropriations bills:

• $927 million for MRA,
• $50 million for ERMA, and
• $650 million for ORR.

Read past Washington Updates.