Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act will facilitate the naturalization of a select group of Southeast Asians who put their lives at risk for our country. H.R. 371, which recently passed the House by a voice vote, is identical to a bill introduced in the Senate by Senator Wellstone, S. 890. I am a principal cosponsor of the Senate version of the bill, and I am pleased that the Committee is going to act on H.R. 371 today.

By passing this legislation today, the Committee recognizes the contribution of Hmong and Lao immigrants who risked their lives to support U.S. interests in Southeast Asia. We not only recognize the valor of Hmong and Lao veterans, but also help them achieve their goal of citizenship.

Mr. Chairman, Wisconsin is home to the third largest Hmong community in the United States. We are proud of the Hmong veterans and their families who sacrificed so much for U.S. national security during the Vietnam War and have done so much to enrich Wisconsin and the United States. I have had the opportunity to meet many Lao and Hmong veterans and their families as I travel throughout Wisconsin. I am struck by the profound importance they place on becoming citizens of the United States. The most important thing to many of these individuals is to become legal citizens of the country they risked their lives to help and that they now call home. This bill is the least we can do to help repay the huge debt we owe these brave individuals

This legislation is truly long overdue. The Hmong and Lao veterans of the U.S. secret army should not have had to suffer for so long and in obscurity after the end of the Vietnam War. It should not have taken so long for the United States to finally dedicate a monument in Arlington National Cemetery to the Hmong and Lao veterans of the U.S. aecret army, when it did so in May 1997.

Mr. President, the monument at Arlington National Cemetery to the Hmong veterans contains important language for us to remember as we pass this legislation today in the Senate. The monument in Arlington Cemetery, dedicated by many of the Hmong veterans and their families from Wisconsin and across the United States, reads as follows:

"DEDICATED TO THE U.S. SECRET ARMY IN LAOS 1961-1973

IN MEMORY OF THE HMONG AND LAO COMBAT VETERANS AND THEIR AMERICAN ADVISORS WHO SERVED FREEDOM'S CAUSE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. THEIR PATRIOTIC VALOR AND LOYALTY IN THE DEFENSE OF LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

‘YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN' (in Laotian and Hmong)

LAO VETERANS OF AMERICA MAY 15, 1997"

Mr. Chairman, I am particularly proud of the Lao Veterans of America chapters throughout the state of Wisconsin – in Milwaukee, Green Bay, Madison, Wausau, Stevens Point, Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Eau Claire and elsewhere. They played a positive role in helping to establish this monument as well as pressing the Congress to enact this legislation. They have also worked with the national headquarters of the Lao Veterans of America and its chapters across the United States to reconstruct many of the records of the veterans, which were destroyed in Laos at the end of the Vietnam War.

More than a thousand Hmong veterans from Wisconsin were in Washington, D.C. last week to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in Laos and the passage of this legislation in the House of Representatives. Over four thousand Hmong veterans marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and attended ceremonies at the Vietnam War Memorial, the U.S. Capitol and Arlington National Cemetery.

Mr. Chairman, during the course of our consideration of this bill in Committee, an objection was raised to a provision of the bill that specifically mentions the Lao Veterans of America as an organization whose certification of the eligibility of an individual veteran as eligible for the benefits of this bill could be considered by the Attorney General. Given that there is reason to believe that the federal government has few remaining records of which Lao and Hmong participated in the U.S. secret army, I think it is entirely reasonable for the Attorney General to consider documentation provided by the Lao Veterans of America or other Lao or Hmong veterans' organizations. In fact, I understand that the Lao Veterans of America was named in the House legislation because it has maintained extensive records of the Hmong and Lao veterans of the U.S. secret army. Frankly, I do not understand why this provision became such a sticking point, but in order to move this bill along and get it to the President's desk as quickly as possible, I agreed to a modification of this provision.

I am pleased that we reached agreement that this provision should not be removed in its entirety. And I emphasize, and I know that the Chairman agrees, that a negative inference should not be drawn from the fact that the name of this specific organization, the Lao Veterans of America, was removed from the bill. Even though its name was removed from the bill, the Lao Veterans of America can still provide documentation to the Attorney General, and the Attorney General may consider it.

Mr. Chairman, I again want to thank you and Senator Kohl for your work, as well as Senator Wellstone for his leadership, to facilitate passage of this important legislation that will help Hmong veterans finally attain their well-deserved goal of U.S. citizenship.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.