Speech #960209042

South Carolina. West Virginia. and Pennsylvania. would lose congressional representation that they probably would otherwise retain. Those States where many illegal aliens are harboredNew York. Texas. Illinois. Californiawould all stand to gain at our expense. This would have the effect of rewarding areas of the country for having illegal aliens and penalizing those areas lacking illegal aliens by reducing their representation. In addition to this distortion of representation. those States with many illegal aliens would receive windfall benefits at the expense of those States without. Approximately $50 billion in Federal funds are distributed partially or completely on the basis of population figures. Numerous Federal programs now contain prohibitions against using Federal funds to assist individuals who are not legal residents. If illegal aliens are used to increase the amount of funds a State may be entitled to. but the benefits are not distributed to them. the other residents will receive more than their fair share. Furthermore. needy citizens and legal residents in other States would lose out on their share. However. if illegal aliens could manage to participate in Federal assistance programs. even more citizens would be the losers. Given that there is strong evidence from the IRS that many illegal aliens do not pay taxes. they would be getting a free ride at the expense of the already overburdened taxpayer. Illegal aliens are already being persuaded to step forward and be counted by the lure of additional funds their communities might accrue. Substantial advertising and public relations campaigns. at a cost of millions of dollars to the taxpayers. are currently being waged to rally their cooperation while being promised. in essence. temporary immunity from our immigration laws. The U.S. Census Bureau seems to disregard entirely the extent to which its taxpayerfinanced TV and television ads will aggrevate illegal immigration. Forced inclusion of unlawful residents in the legislative and apportionment bases for the next decade will serve to legitimize the presence of illegal aliens little short of de facto naturalization. The Census Bureau would. in effect. make legitimate a huge illegal immigrant population without an act of Congress and without even any defined policy. Considering the judicial activism present in Federal courts. the inclusion of illegal aliens would serve as a basis for granting them additional rights and benefits in the future. A lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Bureau on the Census on this issue by the Federation for American Immigration Reform and 26 coplaintiffsmost of whom are Members of Congress. On February 26. the district court handed down a decision dismissing the suit. not on the merits of the issue. but rather for "lack of standing by the plaintiffs." But. in its decision the court did suggest that Congress has the authority to solve this dilemma. Therefore. in compliance with the courts assertion that Congress has the authority. I am introducing today in the House similar corrective legislation that was introduced by Senators HuDDLESTON and HEINZ in the Senate. My bill would require that the Secretary of Commerce adjust the population figures so that illegal aliens would not be counted in the population base for reapportionment purposes or for distributing Federal funds. The problem is immediate. Census forms will be mailed out to every American household on March 28. to be returned April 1. I urge my colleagues to make haste in considering this legislation. We cannot afford to let the presence of millions of illegal aliens distort our democratic form of governmental representation and assistance.O