With specific regard to refugees, the introduced version of the measure would express the sense of Congress that thousands of North Korean children do not have families and are threatened with starvation and disease if they remain in North Korea or as stateless refugees in surrounding countries and that the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security should make every effort to facilitate the immediate care, family reunification, and, if necessary and appropriate, the adoption of any eligible North Korean children living outside North Korea as de jure or de facto stateless refugees.  The measure, further, would provide that in developing her strategy for facilitating the adoption of North Korean refugees by U.S. citizens, the Secretary of State must consider the challenges that United States citizens would encounter in attempting to adopt children from North Korea who are currently living in Hague countries and non-Hague countries regardless of their legal status in such countries; propose solutions to dealing with the situation in which a North Korean refugee child does not have access to a competent authority in the foreign-sending country; propose solutions to dealing with North Korean refugee children who are not considered habitual residents of the countries in which they are located; evaluate alternative mechanisms for foreign-sending countries to prove that North Korean refugee children are orphans when documentation, such as birth certificates, death certificates of birth parents, and orphanage documentation, is missing or destroyed; provide suggestions for working with South Korea to establish pilot programs that identify, provide for the immediate care of, assist in the family reunification of, and assist in the international adoption of, orphaned North Korean children living within South Korea; provide suggestions for working with international adoption agencies and aid organizations in Asia to identify and establish pilot programs for the identification, immediate care, family reunification, and international adoption of North Korean orphans living outside North Korea as de jure or de facto stateless refugees; identify other nations in which large numbers of stateless, orphaned children are living who might be helped by international adoption; and propose solutions for assisting orphaned children with Chinese fathers and North Korean mothers who are living in China and have no access to Chinese or North Korean resources.

H.R. 1464 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) and referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.  The House is expected to bypass the Committee and take the bill up directly.

The House is scheduled to take up H.R. 1464 on Tuesday, September 11, 2012, under expedited procedures, known as "suspension of the rules", which limit debate to 40 minutes, preclude floor amendments, and require the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of those Members present and voting in order for the measure to be passed.

With specific regard to refugees, the measure would urge the Government of Sri Lanka to allow humanitarian organizations, aid agencies, journalists, and international human rights groups greater freedom of movement, including in internally displaced persons camps.

H. Res. 177 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Mike Grimm (R-NY) on March 7, 2011 and referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.  The House is expected to bypass the Committee and take the bill up directly.

The House is scheduled to take up H. Res. 177 on Tuesday, September 11, 2012, under expedited procedures, known as "suspension of the rules", which limit debate to 40 minutes, preclude floor amendments, and require the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of those Members present and voting in order for the measure to be passed.