Speech #980043190

Mr. President. this bill grants amnesty to those who have broken our laws. our immigration laws. That is an act of considerable compassion. I think perhaps an act of too great compassion. But in any case. I ask. is it necessary for us to go beyond amnesty. to go beyond forgiving the transgression of our laws and in addition to that provide entitlement benefits to those illegal aliens granted amnesty under this bill? I suggest the answer is "No." I suggest the answer is patently unfair to our own taxpayers to have to provide benefits on top of amnesty. to provide entitlement benefits to those who have criminally broken our laws but who are forgiven by this pending legislation. So the purpose of my amendment is to preclude the extension of entitlement benefits until the illegal aliens granted amnesty under this bill attain naturalized citizenship. It is that simple. They would not be entitled to entitlement benefits. They would not be due entitlement benefits until they became naturalized citizens. Mr. President. I would point out that we have no idea how much it will cost us if indeed they became eligible for entitlement benefits for the reason that we do not actually know how many illegal aliens there are in this country. The estimates range from 3 million to 12 million. Nobody knows what it is. so it is impossible to determine the cost of entitlement benefits for illegal aliens. but we know it would be very substantial. I urge my colleagues to accept this amendment. Once again. very simply. it precludes extending entitlement benefits to those illegal aliens granted amnesty under this bill.