Refugee Funding Facing Drastic Cuts

This week, the House of Representatives recommended spending cuts that would jeopardize the lives of millions of vulnerable refugees and internally displaced persons and completely disregard the human consequences for millions of refugees fleeing torture, trafficking, and persecution and trying to rebuild their lives. The Senate must step up next week and defend humanitarian aid and refugee resettlement in order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.In total, poverty and humanitarian-focused foreign assistance amounts to only one-half of 1 percent of the federal budget. Such assistance has been a bi-partisan Congressional and Presidential commitment for many years, with Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama having both stated that the security of the American people is closely bound up with global human security.The House recommended cutting refugee assistance by more than 45 percent; international disaster assistance by more than 67 percent; and the Office of Refugee Resettlement by more than $76 million. These proposed cuts to such small, but lifesaving accounts, are not worth the loss of life, human suffering, and destabilizing impact of discontinuing programs that provide emergency health, safe shelter, and clean water for millions of survivors of conflicts, and human rights abuses.Based on the extensive volunteer support we witness every day, we know there is a great support for the refugee program in our community.  If the proposed funding cuts happen, it will eliminate many of the services we are able to provide to newly arriving refugees in our community.  The cuts would be extremely detrimental to the families we are serving here in Central Ohio and to their loved ones left behind in refugee camps.  We know first-hand how hard refugees work to become self-sufficient contributing members of our community.  But without funding for services refugees in the Central Ohio community will be left to navigate systems on their own.What can you do? Please call your Senators and urge them not to cut funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Migration and Refugee Assistance.  We’re asking people to make three phone calls: first to Rob Portman’s office,  second to Sherrod Brown’s office, and a third to a friend asking that they do the same. Here are some talking points to reference when speaking with your Senators and Representatives:- Hello, my name is [name] and I’m calling from [name of town/city].- I am calling to urge Senator Brown/Portman to not cut funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Migration and Refugee Assistance, to restore funding to FY2010 levels.- There is a local refugee resettlement agency in Columbus, CRIS, that would be strongly impacted by these funding cuts and drastically reduce the ability to provide assistance to newly arrived refugees.- As a constituent, I deeply care about the fate of refugees in the U.S. and our humanitarian commitment to vulnerable people overseas. Cutting these accounts will have a devastating impact on refugees and the communities hosting them.Info for OH Senators:Rob Portman (R)DC Office: (202) 224-3353Columbus Office: (614) 469-6774Cincinnati Office: (513) 684-3265Sherrod Brown (D)DC Office: (202) 224-2315Columbus: (614) 469-2083