Office of the Historian

31. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance to President Carter1

Washington, February 26, 1979

SUBJECT

  • Presidential Determination to Provide Financial Assistance to U.S. Voluntary Agencies Assisting Political Refugees from Eastern Europe

The American voluntary agencies assisting in the resettlement of political refugees coming from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to the United States are having serious financial difficulties. These agencies depend heavily on financial assistance from the Department of State. Due to a sharp increase in the number of refugees being cared for and resettled during calendar year 1978 (from a projected 17,000 to an actual figure of approximately 24,000 refugees) as well as inflation and the decline in the value of the dollar, funds appropriated for the European refugee program for calendar year 1978 were exhausted during the fall.

The agencies have continued to care for, process, and resettle refugees at their own expense, despite a funding shortfall totalling nearly $8 million. (Details of the shortfall are shown in the attached table.)2 As a result, the voluntary agencies accumulated substantial debts and have had to curtail services; some may soon be forced to cease accepting responsibility for new refugees, irrespective of the rate of refugee flow. Such a development would pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy and humanitarian concerns, for these agencies have been unique and faithful partners in U.S. refugee efforts throughout the world dating back to the end of World War II. It is in our national interest to ensure that these agencies are able to continue their important work, at a time when Soviet and Eastern European emigration continues at extraordinary high levels.

The Department of State has been moving on two fronts to resolve the financial problems of the agencies, working closely with representatives from OMB and the NSC. First, the supplemental budget request for fiscal year 1979 will provide funds to make up the October-to-December shortfall. The Administration has asked the Congress to treat the refugee supplemental on an urgent basis, separately from the government-wide supplemental. (During the week of February 20, [Page 110] OMB will present you an upward revision in the supplemental for refugees, requested by the Department based on the latest information on refugee flows and careful analysis of the appropriate U.S. response.)

Second, to provide immediate alleviation to the hardest-hit voluntary agencies, and to meet the pre-October shortfall, I am here proposing the provision of $1.13 million from the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund, for which a Presidential Determination is required. All of this amount will be used for payments equivalent to resettlement grants at the standard 1978 contract rate ($250 per capita) to the voluntary agencies who resettled European refugees, without U.S. compensation, before October 1. The attached table shows the funding shortfalls, by voluntary agency, during 1978. Only the pre-October amounts will be met by this drawdown. The October-to-December shortfall will be met through the FY 1979 supplemental.

Our efforts to use the Emergency Fund for this purpose have been delayed because of certain steps taken on December 15 by Senator Inouye for the Senate Appropriations Committee. At that time, in the course of objecting to a proposed reprogramming action, Senator Inouye asked the GAO to determine whether the Emergency Fund could be used as here proposed. Accordingly, we suspended further action on use of the fund until the GAO ruled. We received its ruling on February 9. The GAO has fully approved the proposed use of the Emergency Fund to meet the pre-October shortfall of the voluntary agencies.

The current balance of the Emergency Fund is $3,290,000, sufficient to cover this proposed drawdown.

Recommendation

That you sign the attached determination which will make available up to $1.13 million through the Department of State to American voluntary agencies to meet their expenses incurred during 1978 prior to October 1, in resettling refugees as part of the European portion of the United States Refugee Program.3

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 50, Presidential Determinations: 5/78–7/79. No classification marking. Brzenzinski forwarded the memorandum to the President on March 16. (See Document 33.)↩
  2. Neither attachment was attached.↩
  3. No decision is noted on the document.↩