Averting Loss of Life and Injury By Expediting Sivs Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CROW. Mr. Speaker, the ALLIES Act is a chance for Congress to ensure that America honors its promise to our Afghan partners and friends.

The phrase ``life and death'' gets tossed around in this Chamber, but this bill is truly that for thousands of our Afghan friends. The Taliban is intent on hunting down and killing Afghans that served alongside Americans for the past 20 years.

Some Members of this body, including me, may not be here today without the service and sacrifice of Afghans who answered the call to serve shoulder to shoulder with us. Those Afghans knew the risk that their service posed to them and their families, yet they signed up to help because they believed we would have their back.

They have already demonstrated unwavering courage and loyalty by working alongside us. They have demonstrated their commitment to America, and they have earned a path to safety.

The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan will come to an end in a matter of weeks. At the same time, the threat to our Afghan partners who served alongside men and women is increasing drastically every single day.

Simply put, we are running out of time. They are running out of time. We must streamline the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa process and increase the number of visas to match the pipeline of applicants. The ALLIES Act does just that.

The ALLIES Act removes several administrative barriers to expedite visa processing, and it makes these changes without weakening the important security vetting of applicants. The bill allows family members of deceased SIV applicants to continue through the process if the applicant is killed before visa approval.

The bill clarifies that Afghans who worked to benefit the U.S. mission under federally funded cooperative agreements and grants also qualify for the program. This includes Afghans who performed critical democracy, human rights, and governance work on behalf of the U.S.

Lastly, the ALLIES Act raises the visa cap by 8,000 visas to meet the current number of applicants.

Before I close, let me thank the Honoring Our Promises Working Group, a bipartisan group; the Biden administration; Leader Hoyer; and the Judiciary Committee for their partnership in crafting this bill and getting us to the vote today.

This is personal to any of us who served with the men and women who will be saved by this bill. But it is also a moral and national security issue for America.

It is a moral issue because the American handshake must matter. We must be a country that honors our promises if we are to be a beacon of hope and democracy for the world.

It is a national security issue because America is strong, not just because we have aircraft carriers and fighters and bombers, but because we have friends and allies. We don't go it alone. We face many threats, and we will continue to in the future, and we will need friends to help us face those threats. If we turn our back on the Afghans who served with us for the last two decades, it is going to be awfully hard to find future friends.

Mr. Speaker, this is our chance to do the right thing. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the ALLIES Act.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source