HR 2798 · 114th Congress 2015–2017, ended

Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act

Introduced Jun 17, 2015 Originated House Sponsor Keith Ellison D-MN

Latest action · Jul 1, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedJun 17, 2015
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act

Requires the Department of Homeland Security to work with the heads of other relevant federal agencies to conduct a review of refugee processing with the goal of streamlining processing, consistent with maintaining security.

Requires the Department of State (Department) to establish overseas refugee English language and work orientation training programs prior to the departure for the United States of refugees who have been approved for U.S. admission.

Permits: (1) refugees (and their spouses and children) to be admitted to the United States as lawful permanent residents, and (2) asylum seekers (and their spouses and children) to be granted lawful permanent residency.

Requires the Department when setting the amount of reception and placement grants to: (1) adjust the grant amount to account for anticipated initial refugee resettlement needs, and (2) ensure that funding is provided to national resettlement agencies at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that the President should appoint a White House Coordinator on Refugee Protection.

Requires the Office of Refugee Resettlement to make grants to national resettlement agencies to operate a case management system to assist individuals access eligible services, benefits, and assistance provided by the Office, federal, state, or local agencies, and private or nonprofit organizations.

Requires the Office, subject to available appropriations, to provide refugees with a minimum of 12 months' assistance and social services for employment, health, and living expenses.

Authorizes the Office to award grants to community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and resettlement agencies for programs to assist newcomers integrate into U.S. civic life.

Expands eligibility for, and participation in, the refugee matching grant program (federal-private refugee assistance).

Establishes a Domestic Emergency Refugee Resettlement Fund to meet unanticipated refugee resettlement needs.

Makes SSI (supplemental security income) benefits available to qualified aliens, U-visa aliens (victim of criminal activity), or certain T-visa aliens (victims of trafficking in persons) who were ineligible for such benefits because of their failure to acquire citizenship within seven years.

Makes a child who has been granted special immigrant status as a victim of criminal activity (U-visa) eligible for specified refugee benefits.

Cosponsors 26

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 17, 2015 to Dec 7, 2016; 18 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
D-TX	Al Green	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-FL	Alcee L. Hastings	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-CA	Barbara Lee	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-RI	David N. Cicilline	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-DC	Eleanor Holmes Norton	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-WI	Gwen Moore	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-GA	Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-MA	James P. McGovern	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-WA	Jim McDermott	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-MI	John Conyers, Jr.	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-CA	Judy Chu	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-IL	Luis V. Gutierrez	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-CA	Mark Takano	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-CA	Michael M. Honda	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-VT	Peter Welch	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-AZ	Raúl M. Grijalva	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-TX	Sheila Jackson Lee	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-CA	Susan A. Davis	Original	Jun 17, 2015
D-IL	Janice D. Schakowsky		Jun 23, 2015
D-IN	André Carson		Jul 7, 2015
D-WI	Mark Pocan		Jul 7, 2015
D-CA	Tony Cárdenas		Jul 7, 2015
D-NY	Charles B. Rangel		Jul 14, 2015
D-NY	Brian Higgins		Jul 16, 2015
D-CA	Mark DeSaulnier		Oct 27, 2015
D-NJ	Frank Pallone, Jr.		Dec 7, 2016

Committees 3

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Judiciary Committee	Referred Jun 17, 2015
	Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee	Referred Jul 1, 2015
House	Foreign Affairs Committee	Referred Jun 17, 2015
House	Ways and Means Committee	Referred Jun 17, 2015
	Trade Subcommittee	Referred Jun 23, 2015

Actions 4

Everything that happened, newest first.

Jul 1, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
Jun 23, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
Jun 17, 2015Introduced in House
Jun 17, 2015Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

In the Congressional Record 1

Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.

Where	In the Record	Members	Date
House	Lists H4492H.R. 2798–2817	—	Jun 17, 2015

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Pursuant to clause 7 of Rule XII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the following statement is submitted regarding the specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the accompanying bill or joint resolution. Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the Constitution of the United States, which states: The Congress shall have the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.''

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 97, June 17, 2015, page H4492.

CRS reports 1

Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.

Cite it 1

Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.

Product	Title	Kind	Published
R44581	Trafficking in Persons and U.S. Foreign Policy Responses in the 114th Congress Archived	Report	Aug 5, 2016

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
HR 7401	Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act	Reintroduced Bill	Jan 2, 2019

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To modify provisions of law relating to refugee resettlement, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced: Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Immigration.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Jun 17, 2015Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.