Recognizing the catastrophic impact of the 2022 monsoon season in Pakistan and the devastation inflicted upon the Pakistani people.

Bill: 118-hres-23
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]
Introduced: 2023-01-11
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Asia

Foreign aid and international relief

Immigration status and procedures

Natural disasters

Pakistan

Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
Latest action: action_date: 2023-01-11
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-01-11
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution states that the United States is a leader in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need and will continue to support Pakistan and its people amid the recent flooding and devastation. It also urges the Biden Administration to expeditiously grant Temporary Protected Status to eligible Pakistani nationals currently residing in the United States. </p> <p>(Temporary Protected Status allows an individual to temporarily remain in the United States.)</p>

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 23 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 11, 2023 Ms. Jackson Lee submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs , and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary , 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 RESOLUTION Recognizing the catastrophic impact of the 2022 monsoon season in Pakistan and the devastation inflicted upon the Pakistani people.

Whereas, in June 2022, catastrophic monsoon rains began in Pakistan and intensified to Biblical proportions by August, leaving over one-third of the country under water and directly impacting the lives of 33,000,000 Pakistanis; Whereas despite flooding having subsided by 56 percent from the July-August peak, over 1,700 people have lost their lives, one-third of whom were children, 12,900 people were injured, 20,600,000 currently require humanitarian assistance, and 7,900,000 have been displaced; Whereas over 5,500,000 Pakistanis currently do not have access to clean drinking water, flood waters in many areas remain stagnant, and waterborne diseases remain a major concern as the floods left the country’s most economically vulnerable regions imperiled and struggling with a humanitarian catastrophe; Whereas over 7,000,000 women and children are in desperate need of nutrition and immediate lifesaving support, with food shortages causing pregnant women to be at heightened risk of having low birthweight babies, and 1 in 9 Pakistani children suffering from acute malnutrition; Whereas accelerated glacier melt, brought on by climate change, descending from the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalaya mountain ranges in northern Pakistan, is a major contributing factor to the Indus River’s unprecedented level of overflow and the enormous destruction that resulted; Whereas a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment by the Pakistani Ministry of Planning and Development estimated that the country’s economy has sustained a $15,200,000,000 loss; Whereas an estimated 2,300,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by the floods, many of which were swept away, demolished, or rendered uninhabitable, leaving the housing sector with financial losses estimated to be upwards of $5,600,000,000; Whereas the total cost of damage to transportation infrastructure is estimated to be $281,000,000, 13,000 kilometers of roads were damaged or destroyed, and about 3,100 kilometers of in-service railway tracks were damaged, around 40 percent of the country’s total in-service railways; Whereas damage to fiber optic transmission lines, feeder cables, and transmission towers threatens the performance of Pakistan’s telecommunications infrastructure; Whereas the floods have resulted in approximately 1,200,000 livestock deaths, and damaged 9,400,000 acres of agricultural land around the country, including a 35-percent loss of this year’s Kharif season cash crops including rice and cotton, which are among Pakistan’s major exports; Whereas the flooding’s economic implications to the country will long outlast the persistent standing water, which the World Bank evaluated and estimated that 2.2 percent of the fiscal year 2022 gross domestic product was lost as a direct impact of the floods; Whereas the Pakistani government’s 2022 Post-Disaster Needs Assessment suggested that the flooding will cause the country’s poverty rate to increase by up to 4 percentage points, pushing up to 9,000,000 people newly into poverty; Whereas Pakistan is a longtime ally and strategic partner of the United States linked by strong diplomatic relations since Pakistan’s independence in 1947; Whereas, from September 4 through 6, 2022, a congressional delegation visited the areas in Pakistan that were most severely plagued by the floods; Whereas the congressional delegation met with Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, United States Ambassador Donald Blome, and the United States Deputy Chief of Mission Andrew Schofer to assess the damage, receive a briefing from Pakistani military rescuers, and discuss short-term relief efforts; Whereas the congressional delegation met with the National Disaster Management Authority Chairman, Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz Satti, who presented dozens of images of schools, hospitals, bridges, thousands of miles of roads, and entire towns decimated by the flood water; Whereas the congressional delegation met with representatives from the Pakistan Red Crescent and met with Pakistani Climate Minister, Sherry Rehmen, who provided her assessment of measures necessary for rehabilitation efforts in the flood-affected areas; Whereas the congressional delegation flew over the most severely impacted areas and witnessed devastating human and territorial destruction, with water extending in every direction, women and children racing to be rescued by helicopters, and displaced people everywhere who, having been on the frontlines of the floods, suffered tragic losses; Whereas the perils in Pakistan have made it unsafe for Pakistanis to return to their home country amid this crisis, and on September 8, 2022, 19 Members of Congress co-authored a letter to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the Department of Homeland Security to grant Temporary Protected Status to eligible Pakistani nationals residing within United States borders; Whereas the United States Government has appropriated $83,543,866 in humanitarian funding for the Pakistan flood response in fiscal years 2022–2023, of which the United States Agency for International Development has provided Pakistan with $35,924,587 in humanitarian assistance since August 30, 2022; Whereas the Governments of France, Japan, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, and other nations have provided Pakistan with food and other emergency relief assistance and the European Commission deployed personnel to support logistics and supply chain management needs; and Whereas the House of Representatives supports Pakistan, a longtime friend and ally of the United States, for moral humanitarian reasons, strategic reasons, and the importance of maintaining favorable diplomatic relations: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— (1) the United States is a world leader in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and amid the recent flooding and devastation, will continue to support Pakistan and its people for humanitarian, diplomatic, and strategic reasons, and to reinforce the resplendent friendship between our peoples; (2) the Biden administration should act expeditiously to grant Temporary Protected Status to eligible Pakistani nationals who currently reside in the United States; (3) the American people stand in solidarity with the people of Pakistan and share their emotions of sadness during this grave time and will continue to support Pakistan during the arduous rebuilding efforts; and (4) the Pakistani-American community is a treasured and intrinsic component of American society that feels Pakistan’s tragedy personally, and with whom all Americans are united.