OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Johnson Introduces DRC Amendment

Statement

Date: April 29, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Affairs Family

An amendment introduced this week by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) calls for internationally adopted children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to be united with their families. The amendment passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as part of a manager's package to the Fiscal Year 2017 Department of State authorization bill.

"It's been enormously frustrating," Johnson said of the suspension implemented in September 2013 by the Congolese government, halting exit permits for children adopted by foreign parents. "I welcome the recent progress the DRC has made to unite some of these children with their families, but we still have families waiting. We will continue to press the DRC until we get all of these kids home."

Johnson's amendment urges the DRC to resolve international adoption cases as soon as possible and calls on the U.S. government to continue to treat the release of internationally adopted children from the DRC as a priority.


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