Thread: Tennessee Senator Corker Wants Refugee Program Back to 'Normal' ASAP

Tennessee Senator Corker wants refugee program back to ‘normal’ ASAP

Posted by Ann Corcoran on May 1, 2017


The Republican Senator from Tennessee might be called out-of-step with his constituents in his home state where the Tennessee legislature voted to sue the federal government over refugee resettlement and filed suit in March. (Waiting now for the Trump administration response to the lawsuit.)

Besides “normalizing” the refugee admissions process, Senator Corker wants the US to send more foreign aid to Africa. http://africa-online.com/2017/04/18/...eign-aid-cuts/

Over the Easter recess Corker went to Africa and declared that he wants Trump to “normalize” refugee resettlement which means he has zero interest in taking on the contentious issue of reforming the over 35-year-old flawed system where nine non-profit groups, funded by the federal government, determine how many refugees and from where are seeded in to a state (including his!).


BTW, we were relieved that Trump did not pick Corker for the top job at the US State Department, but we didn’t do any better (at least so far) with Rex Tillerson who is obviously continuing to rely on entrenched bureaucrats to make refugee resettlement decisions. (See Trump admits over 12,000 refugees, including Syrians and Somalis, since Inauguration Day, here)


Here is what Pajama’s Media told us last week about the Corker/Coons trip to Africa (hat tip: ‘Seneca the Elder’):


WASHINGTON – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he hopes the Trump administration begins to “move back to a regular process” and “normalize” the admission of refugees into the United States.


Over the Easter recess, Corker and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) visited the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda, which houses about 270,000 people who fled the civil war in South Sudan. Corker was asked if he has recommendations for the Trump administration on refugees after his experience on the trip.


“It’s my hope that what they’re going to do is go through a process of, as they’ve already stated, of understanding how people are being vetted, do the things they feel are necessary to ensure that when people are coming here they are coming in a way that continues to make sure our whole nation is safe – and then we’ll move on and move back to the regular process that we’ve been in for some time, or hopefully an improved process if there are issues that need to be dealt with,” Corker said on a Monday conference call.


Corker praised the Trump administration decision to remove Iraq from its list of countries covered by the revised executive order that restricted travel and the admission of refugees from some Muslim-majority nations. A federal court blocked the executive order.

“I was thankful they decided Iraq would not be a part of that. I hope they are actually, right now, going through a process of looking at this whole issue of travel. Hopefully, they are stiffening their resolve to make sure it’s done in an appropriate way, and then, hopefully, when that is done we can move on and more normalize what we have been doing in this regard for many years,” Corker said.

Coons said he respected and appreciated Corker’s comments about refugees.
More here.


Sure looks like no hope in Corker’s case for reform by Congress of the whole UN/US Refugee Admissions Program.


And, if the US Refugee Admissions Program (as designed by the 1980 Act), is not reformed now, in the coming months (with leadership from Trump), it never will be. By early 2018, members of Congress and many Senators will be focused on only one thing—getting re-elected!


Just a reminder, in September the Trump Administration will send its ‘determination’ (the ceiling!) to Congress for how many refugees (and from which regions of the world) could be admitted to the US in FY18. What they send to the Hill for “consultation” (Congress does not have to approve, just consult) will tell us everything we need to know about whether Trump will have the guts to stick with campaign promises and get the program under control, or not!


https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wor...o-normal-asap/

Foreign Relations Chairman Hopes Trump Moves Back to ‘Regular Process’ for Refugees





BY NICHOLAS BALLASY APRIL 27, 2017

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) speaks to recent refugees from South Sudan at a registration center in Bidi Bidi, Uganda, on April 14 2017. (AP Photo/Justin Lynch)

WASHINGTON – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he hopes the Trump administration begins to “move back to a regular process” and “normalize” the admission of refugees into the United States.



Over the Easter recess, Corker and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) visited the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda, which houses about 270,000 people who fled the civil war in South Sudan. Corker was asked if he has recommendations for the Trump administration on refugees after his experience on the trip.



“It’s my hope that what they’re going to do is go through a process of, as they’ve already stated, of understanding how people are being vetted, do the things they feel are necessary to ensure that when people are coming here they are coming in a way that continues to make sure our whole nation is safe – and then we’ll move on and move back to the regular process that we’ve been in for some time, or hopefully an improved process if there are issues that need to be dealt with,” Corker said on a Monday conference call.





Corker praised the Trump administration decision to remove Iraq from its list of countries covered by the revised executive order that restricted travel and the admission of refugees from some Muslim-majority nations. A federal court blocked the executive order.
“I was thankful they decided Iraq would not be a part of that. I hope they are actually, right now, going through a process of looking at this whole issue of travel. Hopefully, they are stiffening their resolve to make sure it’s done in an appropriate way, and then, hopefully, when that is done we can move on and more normalize what we have been doing in this regard for many years,” Corker said.
Coons said he respected and appreciated Corker’s comments about refugees.



“I hope a return to a more welcoming and open attitude toward refugees will soon be the case. Today is the Global Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust. There were many who tried to flee in Germany and Europe who were turned back,” he said. “I think it’s an important day for us to remember. We can and should protect the American people from those who would do us harm. And I respect the need to have a strong vetting process, but I also think America’s best values are shown when we welcome those who are fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries as well.”



Coons described the refugees that the senators met as “deeply traumatized” people.



“It is our hope to move forward reforms to our food assistance program that will make it go further and allow us to help more people at a lower cost, and I think that sort of bipartisanship is what we need in this budget environment and at a time where we are seeing a record number of hungry people around the world, a record number of refugees around the world,” he said. “We’re in the middle of the greatest refugee crisis since the end of the second World War. There are about 2 million people internally displaced in South Sudan and nearly the same number, 1.7 million, that have fled South Sudan and there’s more than 100,000 that are facing immediate starvation.”



Corker and Coons want the Trump administration to continue providing funding for the foreign food assistance program, which would be subject to spending cuts if Congress passes the administration’s budget proposal.




“We deal with a lot of issues that involve conflict. We’re constantly asked about North Korea, China, certainly no conflict there at this moment but issues that deal with other kinds of things like what’s happening in Syria, what’s happening in Afghanistan, what’s happening in Iraq, what’s happening with ISIS,” Corker said. “I can just tell you from my standpoint, the place where I feel like we sometimes make the most difference is on issues like this, and it’s really a privilege to serve in the Senate and try to focus on these things that can help other people and certainly further U.S. interests and I’m glad to have a partner like Sen. Coons.”


In response to the proposed cuts to the State Department and USAID, Corker said the current spending levels are only a small portion of the overall budget.


“I’ve never seen a president’s budget ever become law, and Congress will be taking this issue and dealing with it,” he said. “I think most people in Congress understand that what we spend on diplomatic issues and on aid, like we are talking about here, combined is 1 percent of the U.S. budget.”


Corker said most people think foreign aid “must be” 25 percent of the federal budget.
“Every military general that serves will tell you it’s that 1 percent that we spend if we spend it wisely – it is what keeps our men and women in uniform out of harm’s way, keeping them from being in a hot war,” he said. “We obviously need to spend it more wisely.”


https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politic...-for-refugees/

US Senator Pushes Back Against Trump’s Proposed Foreign Aid Cuts







U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, center, speaks to recent refugees from South Sudan at a registration center in Bidi Bidi, Uganda, April 14 2017. Corker, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, defended U.S. foreign assistance while visiting the world's fastest- growing refugee crisis in northern Uganda, just across the border from war-torn South Sudan.

Michael Onas
April 18, 2017





BIDI BIDI CAMP, UGANDA — Face-to-face with victims of South Sudan’s famine and civil war, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee strongly defended U.S. foreign aid on Friday despite President Donald Trump’s proposed deep cuts in humanitarian assistance.



Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee visited the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis in northern Uganda, just across the border from South Sudan, in a pointed response to Trump’s “America First” platform that would slash funds for diplomacy and foreign aid.


Without “U.S. leadership, these people would have no hope,” Corker told The Associated Press in an interview. “I think Americans if they saw what I see here, and I see in other places, would be glad that our country does what it does.”






Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, right, speaks with an official from the World Food Program at the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in Uganda , April 14, 2017.



The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds significant sway over the foreign budget, and the proposed cuts almost certainly would need Corker’s approval.


More for military


The United States is the world’s largest provider of humanitarian assistance and in 2016 gave roughly $2.8 billion in food aid, but the Trump administration has thrown such funding into doubt. At the same time, Trump wants to boost military spending.

At the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, Corker served food to South Sudanese who recently fled fighting in the East African nation, where the United Nations has warned of ethnic cleansing.

A grandmother in a flowing green dress huddled with five of her grandchildren, clutching metal cups of food. The family had walked two weeks to arrive at the refugee camp. Nearby sat a woman with a gaping bullet wound in her ankle.

“The 1 percent that we spend on diplomacy and assistance, if we spend it wisely, then the expectations are that the men and women that we love so much in uniform are less likely to get into a hot war or in harm’s way,” Corker said.




A child looks up while U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, center left, speaks to recent refugees from South Sudan at a registration center in Bidi Bidi, Uganda, April 14, 2017.




Trump’s proposed budget, announced in March, would cut 28 percent of the budget for foreign aid and diplomacy. The budget plan, which still needs approval by Congress, would put pressure on all nearly all foreign aid, according to U.S. officials.


More spending at home


The budget would “spend less money on people overseas and more money on people back home,” Mick Mulvaney, the president’s budget director, said last month after the plan was announced.


Few countries are likely to suffer as much as South Sudan if Trump’s budget is approved. The country is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid, receiving more than $2 billion from 2014 to 2017.


The world’s youngest nation was plunged into civil war in December 2013, and the fighting contributed to desperate conditions that led the U.N. to declare a famine in February. Roughly 1 million people are said to be on the brink of starvation.


On Friday, South Sudanese refugees told Corker stories of misery. One man described how his hometown of Yei has been ripped apart by ethnic fighting. A woman told Corker how she was raped during her trek to Uganda. And throughout the day, Corker heard the same message again and again.





U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, left, speaks with a woman who has recently arrived from South Sudan, at a registration center in northern Uganda for South Sudanese refugees, April 14, 2017.



“They are giving us a little food,” the woman said. “Food. Food. Food.”


“I don’t know what the answer is when you have brutal leaders who care nothing about the people that they are to govern and are willing to allow their soldiers, their men, to rape, kill, to terrorize people,” Corker told the AP.


Starvation for 20 million


The United Nations says South Sudan is part of the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, along with Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. The U.N. estimates that 20 million people could starve.


Surrounded by refugees, Corker did not outright criticize Trump’s proposed budget, but he outlined an alternative vision of foreign assistance.


Corker said there is no doubt Trump’s proposed humanitarian and diplomacy cuts are drastic, but added that “I’ve never seen a president’s budget ever come along” without changes.


The senator did not say what the foreign aid budget would be, but he proposed reforms to a law that requires foreign food aid to be grown in the United States and shipped under an American flag.


He blamed a “cartel in Washington” of maritime companies and “a small group of people in Washington” that cause fewer people to be fed. Instead, he said that allowing food aid to be grown closer to the site of a crisis and shipped under any flag would be cheaper and more efficient.


“It’s taken in some cases six months for those products to actually get here,” Corker said.



http://africa-online.com/2017/04/18/...eign-aid-cuts/

We need to send these Congresscritters into the ghettos of our major cities and the poverty-stricken areas of our rural counties. They want to see poverty? They want to see hurt and suffering? They don't need to leave the US to see it.

GROUND THE CONGRESSCRITTERS. No more overseas travel until they fix our country.

Who is telling us what to do? this corker?
http://White House Correspondent Say...ial Cortuption

Food, food, food. We have been giving them BILLIONS for food, food, food for decades.

Global Population Control!!!

No money, no aid, no oatmeal. Quit breeding and clean up your own corrupt government!

Originally Posted by Beezer

Food, food, food. We have been giving them BILLIONS for food, food, food for decades.

Global Population Control!!!

No money, no aid, no oatmeal. Quit breeding and clean up your own corrupt government!

Under the new budget Africa will receive a 900 million dollar increase.

NO MORE MONEY, NO AID, NO OATMEAL!

Originally Posted by Beezer

NO MORE MONEY, NO AID, NO OATMEAL!

....... unless privately funded.