II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4686 

To recognize the refugee and immigrant communities from Cambodia, Laos, 

and Vietnam including the Hmong, Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, Khmu, 

Lao, Montagnard, and Vietnamese Americans who supported and defended the Armed Forces during the conflict in Southeast Asia, authorize 

assistance to support activities relating to clearance of unexploded ordnance and other explosive remnants of war, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Ms. BALDWIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To recognize the refugee and immigrant communities from 

Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam including the Hmong, 

Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, Khmu, Lao, Montagnard, 

and Vietnamese Americans who supported and defended 

the Armed Forces during the conflict in Southeast Asia, 

authorize assistance to support activities relating to 

clearance of unexploded ordnance and other explosive 

remnants of war, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Legacies of War Rec3 ognition and Unexploded Ordnance Removal Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. RECOGNITION OF THE HMONG, CHAM, CAMBODIAN, 

5 IU-MIEN, KHMU, LAO, MONTAGNARD, AND VI6 ETNAMESE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES WHO 

7 SUPPORTED AND DEFENDED THE ARMED 

8 FORCES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. 

9 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

10 (1) Many Hmong, Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, 

11 Khmu, Lao, Montagnard and Vietnamese Ameri12 cans— 

13 (A) fought and died with United States 

14 Armed Forces during the conflict in Southeast 

15 Asia in the 1960s and 1970s; 

16 (B) rescued United States pilots shot down 

17 in enemy-controlled territory and returned the 

18 pilots to safety; 

19 (C) gathered and provided to the United 

20 States Armed Forces intelligence about enemy 

21 troop positions, movement, and strength; and 

22 (D) provided food, shelter, and support to 

23 the United States Armed Forces. 

24 (2) The National Armed Forces of Cambodia 

25 facilitated the evacuation of the United States Em26 bassy in Phnom Penh on April 12, 1975, by conVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Oct 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4686.IS S4686

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1 tinuing to fight Khmer Rouge forces as they ad2 vanced upon the capital. 

3 (3) A tragic legacy of the conflict in Southeast 

4 Asia is the lethal risk posed by unexploded ordnance 

5 (UXO) in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia that still 

6 litter forests, rice fields, villages, school grounds, 

7 roads, and other populated areas—hindering devel8 opment and poverty reduction efforts. 

9 (4) Vietnam remains one of the world’s most 

10 contaminated countries, with an estimated 800,000 

11 tons of UXO left over from the conflict in Southeast 

12 Asia that ended more than 40 years ago. Since 

13 1975, mine and UXO accidents have caused more 

14 than 100,000 casualties, including 40,000 deaths of 

15 Vietnamese civilians. 

16 (5) From 1964–1973, the United States 

17 dropped more than 2,000,000 tons of bombs on 

18 Laos during American operations to disrupt North 

19 Vietnamese military supply routes. As a result, Laos 

20 is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the 

21 world. Much of the country’s land remains contami22 nated with tens of millions small, unexploded cluster 

23 munitions. Since the end of the conflict, UXO have 

24 injured or killed more than 25,000 civilians in Laos. 


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1 (6) Cambodia suffers from one of the highest 

2 rates of landmine and UXO accidents in the world. 

3 Over 64,000 Cambodians have been killed or injured 

4 by UXO and other explosive remnants of war since 

5 1979, with an average of one casualty every week. 

6 (7) The United States is the world’s leading fi7 nancial supporter of demining and UXO removal 

8 programs. Since 1993, the United States has pro9 vided more than $3,700,000,000 in assistance to lo10 cate and destroy UXO and other explosive remnants 

11 of war in more than 100 countries, including more 

12 than $148,000,000 in Vietnam, $230,000,000 in 

13 Laos, and $150,000,000 in Cambodia. 

14 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con15 gress that— 

16 (1) the Hmong, Cham, Cambodian, Iu-Mien, 

17 Khmu, Lao, Montagnard, and Vietnamese Ameri18 cans deserve recognition for their support and de19 fense of the Armed Forces during the conflict in 

20 Southeast Asia; and 

21 (2) the United States should continue to sup22 port activities to clear UXO and other explosive rem23 nants of war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and 

24 strengthen people-to-people ties and reaffirm Amer25 ica’s long-standing commitment to Southeast Asia. 


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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE FOR VIETNAM, 

2 LAOS, AND CAMBODIA. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized to 

4 provide humanitarian assistance for programs to support 

5 the activities described in subsection (b). 

6 (b) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Activities that may be 

7 supported by assistance under subsection (a) include the 

8 following: 

9 (1) Developing national surveys of unexploded 

10 ordnance (UXO) and other explosive remnants of 

11 war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. 

12 (2) Providing for clearance of such UXO and 

13 other explosive remnants of war. 

14 (3) Providing assistance for capacity building, 

15 risk education, and assistance to survivors, including 

16 medical assistance and prosthetic devices, in Viet17 nam, Laos, and Cambodia related to both UXO and 

18 other explosive remnants of war. 

19 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

20 President shall seek to consult, partner, and coordinate 

21 with international organizations, civil society, donor gov22 ernments, and other stakeholders, as appropriate, to lever23 age their expertise, financial support, and resources to 

24 minimize duplication of efforts and maximize the efficient 

25 and effective provision of United States assistance. 

26 (d) BRIEFINGS.— 


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1 (1) ANNUAL BRIEFINGS.—The President shall 

2 provide annual briefings to the appropriate commit3 tees of Congress on activities undertaken in accord4 ance with this section. 

5 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS

6 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appro7 priate committees of Congress’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

9 the Committee on Armed Services, and the 

10 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 

11 and 

12 (B) the Committee of Foreign Affairs, the 

13 Committee on Armed Services, and the Com14 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep15 resentatives. 

16 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry 

18 out this section $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

19 through 2025. 

Æ 


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