Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Chairman, I would like to speak first about an amendment to be considered in a later en bloc regarding Special Immigrant Visas. I want to call attention to the urgent need to continue the Special Immigrant Visa program for Afghans who worked for U.S. forces. This bipartisan amendment, backed by several veterans on the committee, would remove the unfortunate narrowing of eligibility requirements included in the mark, which would prevent hundreds of Afghans whose lives are at risk because of their work for our country from even being considered for resettlement in the United States. The narrowing of eligibility intentionally excludes hundreds of Afghans who worked for the State Department, USAID, and U.S. security contractors in a number of capacities, many of whom face well- documented death threats due to their work with our government, regardless of whether that was with frontline troops or on an American base. By narrowing eligibility, the program would erode the expectations of hundreds of Afghan staff whose lives remain in danger because of their work for the U.S. mission and also make it more difficult to hire and retain qualified Afghan staff in the future who are essential to achieving our diplomatic and assistance goals. For that risk and sacrifice, the very least we can do is offer them a chance to stay live, to keep living, rather than abandoning them to the same enemies they united with us to destroy.…”