By Micheal E. Hill
Monday, October 26, 2009 - 7:00 am EDT

Congress this week is expected to pass a continuing appropriations resolution that temporarily continues stop-gap fiscal year 2010 funding for the nation's refugee admissions, overseas refugee assistance, and refugee resettlement programs.  House floor action on the measure is likely to occur on Thursday, October 29, 2009.  The Senate is expected to act shortly thereafter.  It is anticipated that the measure will continue funding through mid-December for the nation's refugee programs, as well as continue funding through mid-December for all other federal programs and activities that have not yet had their appropriations bills enacted into law.

Congressional action on the continuing appropriations resolution is necessary because Congress has not yet completed its work on all of the 12 regular fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills that fund the activities of the federal government.  Among the bills that yet to be enacted into law are two of the three bills that provide the bulk of funding for the nation's refugee programs.  The continuing appropriations resolution that Congress will take up this week will give Congress time to complete its work on those measures.


Background
Congress each year enacts three bills that fund the nation's refugee programs: 

• The State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill funds the Department of State's refugee admissions and overseas refugee assistance operations.

• The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill funds the programs by which refugees who have been admitted to the United States are resettled here.

• The Homeland Security Appropriations Bill funds the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) refugee and asylum adjudication operations.

 Of the three measures, Congress has completed action on only the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.

Funding for Refugee Resettlement
On July 24, 2009, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3293, its version of the Fiscal Year 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The House-passed measure would appropriate $714.968 MILLION for Refugee and Entrant Assistance administered by ORR. 

The Committee report accompanying the House-passed bill contends that the bill would increase ORR's fiscal year 2010 funding by nearly 13 percent relative to fiscal year 2009. However, in reality, the bill would actually appropriate $432,000 less for ORR in fiscal year 2010 than the total amount that was appropriated for ORR in fiscal year 2009.1] The $714.968 MILION for ORR that is contained in the House-passed bill is $25.6 MILLION less than the amount requested by President Obama in his fiscal year 2010 budget submission for ORR.

On August 4, 2009, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of H.R. 3293. The Senate version of the measure would appropriate $730.657 MILLION for Refugee and Entrant Assistance. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee-approved bill would constitute an increase of $15.2 MILLION for ORR compared to ORR’s total appropriation for fiscal year 2009. It is $10 MILLION less than the Administration requested for fiscal year 2010 and $15.689 MILLION more than was provided in the House-passed version of H.R. 3293.

The Chart that follows compares fiscal year 2010 ORR funding in the House-passed and Senate Appropriations Committee-approved versions of H.R. 3293 with the Administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request:

Funding for Migration and Refugee Assistance
On July 9, 2009, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3081, its version the Fiscal Year 2010 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill. The House-passed measure would appropriate $1.480 BILLION for the Department of State’s Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account.  This would represent a decrease of $190.6 MILLION below the amount that has been appropriated for MRA in fiscal year 2009 and the same amount as was requested by the Administration in its fiscal year 2010 budget request.

Also on July 9, 2009, the Senate Committee on Appropriations approved its version of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee-approved version of the measure would appropriate $1.678 BILLION for the MRA account. This would represent an increase of $7 MILLION when compared to the amount that has been appropriated for MRA in fiscal year 2009.  It represents an increase of $197.4 MILLION over the amount that the Obama Administration requested in its fiscal year 2010 budget request.

The chart that follows compares refugee-related funding in the Fiscal Year 2010 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act with fiscal year 2009 funding and the Administration’s fiscal year 2010 budget submission: