Speech #1030054405

Six: Amend the laws to prevent Medicaid abuse by nonresidents. Today. many nonresidents of our country can come to the United States. use Medicaid. then obtain health or maternity care. and then return to their country of origin. Taxpayers should not be requested to pay the medical and maternity costs for noncitizens who come to our hospitals to give birth. gain citizenship for their child. and then return to their country. Solving the problems of illegal immigration means finding the funding. I believe it is time to seriously consider charging a modest border crossing fee or toll each time anyone. whether a citizen. visitor. or legal immigrant enters the United States. The fee could be collected at all border crossing points. and seaports in the United States. Today. in my area. residents going across the Golden Gate Bridge from one county to San Francisco. from Marin to San Francisco. pay a $3 toll to pay for the infrastructure. maintenance. and operation of that bridge. Those going over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York pay $5. Is it not reasonable. then. to ask that people crossing our border legally pay $1 or $2 to maintain the infrastructure and to staff the Border Patrol? The U.S. Customs Service reports that in 1992. not counting military plans. more than 447 million people and vehicles entered the United States447 million396.2 million of them by ground. vehicle. or on foot. and nearly 6.6 million by sea. If in place last year. just a $1 per person transit fee would have raised almost $403 million just from pedestrians and passengers arriving by car. ship. or ferry. If you had a $2 fee. it would be $806 million raised. Just the $1 fee is enough money to double the Border Patrols fiscal 1993 budget. with $51 million to spare. Although international negotiation will clearly be necessary to make such a fee a reality. a modest intercountry transit fee could yield tremendous dividends for the Customs Service. the INS. and especially the Border Patrol. Do we not owe it to the people of this Nation. those who are facing tough economic times. to consider this step? In the end. Mr. President. a comprehensive Federal immigration strategy clearly must come from the top down. It will take personal directives from President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno to be successful. and it will take the united. bipartisan effort of this Congress. Today. there are more than 30 separate pieces of immigrationrelated measures pending before this Congressthree of them in the Senate. I look forward to working closely with the chairman and ranking member of the Immigration subcommittee. Senators KENNEDY and SIMPSON. and with the administration. to draft legislation to strengthen our Nations borders and reduce the cost of illegal immigration. The words chiseled into the Statue of Liberty-"huddled masses." "breathe free." "golden door"-still remain deeply etched in my mind. It is my background. and it is my heritage. We cannot allow the meaning of these words to be eroded by hate. by fear. and by prejudice. If. however. we stand as tall as that great lady In New York Harbor and institute a fair but firm Federal Immigration policy. we can preserve in America the hope and opportunity that brought my mother and my grandparents to this great country. Thank you. Mr.