President's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution of the United States of America, and in order to establish, in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. I), a task force on private sector initiatives policy of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment. (a) There is established the President's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives. The Task Force shall be composed of members who shall be appointed by the President from among private citizens of the United States, public officials from State and local governments, and members of the Legislative and Executive Branches of the Federal government. No more than one member shall be a full time officer or employee of the Executive Branch. The members shall serve at the pleasure of the President.
(b) The President shall designate a Chairman from among the members of the Task Force.

Sec. 2. Functions. (a) The Task Force shall advise the President, the Secretary of Commerce, and other Executive agency heads with respect to:
(1) Methods of developing, supporting and promoting private sector leadership and responsibility for meeting public needs.
(2) Recommendations for appropriate action by the President to foster greater public-private partnerships and to decrease dependence on government.
(b) The Task Force shall serve as a focal point for private sector action addressing public problems.

Sec. 3. Administration. (a) The heads of Executive agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide the Task Force with such information with respect to private sector initiatives issues as may be necessary for the effective performance of its functions.
(b) Members of the Task Force shall serve without any compensation for their work on the Task Force. However, they may be allowed travel expenses, as authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in the government service (5 U.S.C. 5701 - 5707), to the extent funds are available therefor.
(c) The Department of Commerce shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of funds, provide the Task Force with such administrative services, funds, facilities, staff and other support services as may be necessary for the effective performance of its functions.

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Executive order, the responsibilities of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, except that of reporting annually to the Congress, which are applicable to the Task Force established by this Order, shall be performed by the Secretary of Commerce in accordance with the guidelines and procedures established by the Administrator of General Services.
(b) The Task Force shall terminate on December 31, 1982, unless sooner extended.

Ronald Reagan
The White House,
October 14, 1981.
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:17 p.m., October 14, 1981]

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​​What Ronald Reagan Can Teach Us About Refugee Resettlement
By David Bier

Refugees are pouring out of the Middle East in record numbers. The government has lifted refugee limits slightly, but it has proven inadequate in handling this challenge alone. When President Reagan was faced with a similar crisis, he took a different approach, allowing charities to sponsor refugees and cover the costs of their resettlement. President Obama should follow the Gipper’s lead.
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When President Reagan was elected in 1980, hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees had just arrived en mass on the shores of Miami. Reagan worked hard to secure their safe resettlement, but he also sought better policies to head off future crises. “We shall seek new ways to integrate refugees into our society,” he said just after assuming office.

As anti-communists fled Cuba in record numbers, Reagan fulfilled his promise, creating the Private Sector Initiative (PSI) in 1986. As Reagan explained in his announcement of the program, refugees under the PSI would be admitted “upon the availability of private sector funding sufficient to cover the essential and reasonable costs of such admissions.”

Private sponsoring organizations had to agree to provide basic needs for refugees until the refugee became self-sufficient or permanent residents. American families and members of local communities pitched in. The number of volunteer sponsors and the amount of money raised determined how many refugees were admitted.  At least 16,000 refugees entered under the privately-funded category from 1987 to 1993 — mainly Cubans and Soviet Jews. According to Princeton Lyman, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Affairs from 1989 to 1991, thousands of Pentecostal Christians fleeing the Soviet Union were allowed to enter through privately-funded resettlement as well.

The program proved to be a success. Refugee Coordinator Jewel LaFontant Mankorious told Congress the office was “very proud” of PSI in 1991. The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s 1990 report to Congress said that the agency, which was tasked with helping refugees, “strongly endorses” PSI and was “committed to encouraging the involvement of the private sector in refugee resettlement whenever possible.”

Most of PSI’s success was due to local efforts. Churches, synagogues, community organizations, and families raised funds and supplied services for thousands of people each year. Keep in mind that this was in the 1980s and 90s. Now, in the Internet age, it would be much easier to match refugees with volunteer host families, and to raise the money necessary to cover their resettlement costs. A combination of big donors and grassroots crowdfunding campaigns could easily support a large-scale private resettlement effort.

Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani Greek yogurt, has already promised to spend $700 million to aid refugees. A promotional push from the Obama administration for a crowdfunding campaign could raise millions more. A Kickstarter for the UN Refugee Agency promoted by the administration raised over one million dollars for refugee camps overseas.  Americans have donated hundreds of millions to aid the victims of other tragedies. The U.S. private sector donated a remarkable $3.16 billion to relief efforts after the 2004 tsunami in Asia–an indication of how Americans might respond to the opportunity to save refugees.

American ethnic organizations have already endorsed the idea of private refugee resettlement. A group led by Syrian American organizations sent a letter last month to President Obama requesting that he reinstate the PSI program. “Private refugee sponsorship remains an optimal, fiscally responsible, and humane manner by which to resettle refugees,” they wrote.

They have been joined by several prominent voices in Congress. Sen. Ron Johnson, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has expressed interest in the idea, and Reps. Zoe Lofgren and John Conyers, ranking members on the Judiciary Committee and its immigration subcommittee, have both endorsed private resettlement.

Some oppose admitting refugees on national-security grounds, even if the cost of resettlement is privately funded. They should relax. Over the past several decades, America has admitted millions of refugees, including hundreds of Middle Easterners. Not one of them has committed an act of terrorism in the U.S. Law enforcement and careful screening have proven they can handle the threat.
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In his farewell address, Reagan recounted the story of an American sailor who encountered refugees lost at sea. When a refugee spotted the soldier, he yelled, “Hello, American sailor. Hello, freedom man.” For Reagan, to welcome refugees was to reinforce this connection between America and freedom. We can only wonder what that refugee would have thought had the sailor glided on by.
Reagan saw that welcoming refugees was both humanitarianism and good foreign policy, and his private resettlement program allowed Americans to further both. President Obama should follow his example and let American generosity be part of the answer to this crisis. There should be no arbitrary limits on the charity of American citizens.

David Bier is Director of Immigration Policy at the Niskanen Center, a libertarian nonprofit in D.C.
Article printed from The Daily Caller

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Private Sector Aid Sought By Reagan
By KATHLEEN TELTSCH

​The Reagan Administration, as it pushes ahead with budget cuts, is turning to business and philanthropic leaders to stimulate support for a spectrum of community aid handled by the Federal Government until now.

A first step, White House officials said, was President Reagan's breakfast meeting last Monday with 18 prominent citizens. Many of those invited came away saying that they were gratified by Mr. Reagan's pledge of continuing concern for community needs, pleased that he had asked their advice and generally buoyed by the impression that the White House was prepared to collaborate.
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Mr. Reagan, in his address Thursday proposing new budget cuts, also underscored the Administration's intent to make a nationwide effort to encourage citizens to discover community needs.

Declaring that the ''spirit of voluntarism still lives in America,'' the President cited the outpouring of help for charity drives, disaster relief and hospitals and other nonprofit organizations. ''The truth is,'' he went on, ''we've let Government take away many things we once considered were really ours to do voluntarily out of the goodness of our hearts and a sense of community pride and neighborliness.''

Search for Ways of Cooperating
The White House meeting with the 18 civic leaders was preliminary, and intended to explore ways the private sector and government together could address such ''people problems'' as health and education, social welfare and unemployment, said John H. Filer, chairman of the Aetna Life and Casualty Company. Mr. Filer was chairman of a citizens' committee that conducted a $2 million, two year inquiry on philanthropy.

The hour-long session with the President and longer talks with his top aides led a number of the civic leaders to predict that the White House would appoint a study group, a commission or a series of such groups to follow up the initial overture. A small study group from the business community, dealing with job training for unemployed youths was mentioned as a model.

The White House initiative comes at a time of widely expressed concern among the country's 300,000 non profit organizations, ranging from museums to antipoverty groups, about the damaging effect of Federal budget cuts.

Companies around the country have been swamped with appeals for money from such groups, leading business leaders to warn of exaggerated expectations about their ability to respond. The foundations have been hard hit by inflation, and would be unlikely to increase help significantly, officials say. Grants from corporations and foundations last year were only about $5 billion, which could not begin to compensate for the multibillion-dollar loss of Federal funds. The major share of giving for charitable causes has continued to come from individuals. Last year, such giving, including bequests, totaled more than $42 billion, most to churches. Improved Management Encouraged

The Reagan Administration has taken the position that without attempting to replace the Federal funds, the private sector could make a significant impact by enlarging its level of giving and by helping to improve the management of nonprofit activities.
A number of those who attended the breakfast meeting said that they were impressed with the President's knowledge of the nonprofit groups, drawn largely from his experience as Governor of California.

William J. Baroody Jr., president of the American Enterprise Institute, reiterated the institute's advocacy of eliminating Federal regulations that inhibit effective local initiatives.

Looking to the Private Sector
''The clear message was the Administration wants solutions to come more from the private sector and more as local initiatives,'' said William Aramony, president of United Ways of America, which helps support 37,000 voluntary organizations receiving 30 to 35 per cent of their income from Government.

President Reagan was accompanied to the meeting by his three top aides: Edwin Meese 3d, Presidential counselor; James A. Baker 3d, chief of staff, and his deputy, Michael K. Deaver.
James S. Rosebush, a special assistant to the President, has been given the responsibility for what is being called a ''private sector initiatives strategy.''

However, the Urban Institute, a Washington research organization, estimated in July that nonprofit groups could lose $27 billion in Federal financing in the next four years. A later institute study concluded that the Administration's tax changes would unintentionally deprive such groups of billions by discouraging individual gifts.

'Independent Sector' Questioned
Both reports were made for the Independent Sector, a coalition of leading foundations, corporations and national nonprofit groups set up two years ago to encourage giving and volunteering by the private sector.
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The position of the Independent Sector is said to have been questioned by White House officials, They see it as unduly alarming. They also say that many of the Federal budget cuts are aimed at programs that have not been effective.
Brian O'Connell, president of the Independent Sector, applauded the President's interest as a ''very encouraging development.'' Mr. O'Connell welcomed Mr. Reagan's call for increased voluntary activity but cautioned that such stepped-up activity and private philanthropy should not be seen as compensating for massive Government assistance. While predicting that citizens would respond with time and money, he declared, ''It would be unfair to exaggerate what voluntary giving can do.''

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