SSI is the largest cash assistance program for the poor and one of the fastest growing entitlement programs. Programs costs have grown 20 percent annually in the last 4 years. The SSI reforms in H.R. 4 are designed to slow the growth in the two populations which have seen tremendous increases in recent years. noncitizens and children. In 1982. noncitizens constituted 3 percent of all SSI recipients. In 1993. noncitizens constituted nearly 12 percent of the entire SSI caseload. From 1986 through 1993. the number of aged or disabled noncitizen recipients grew an average of 15 percent annually. reaching nearly 700.000 in 1993. Today. almost one out of every four elderly SSI recipients is a noncitizen. GAO calculates that noncitizens are actually more likely to receive SSI than citizens. The majority of these elderly noncitizens. 57 percent. have been in the United States less than 5 years. In total. our reforms directed at noncitizens will save the taxpayers more than $20 billion. If President Clinton vetoes H.R. 4. these savings will be lost. According to the General Accounting Office. the growth in the number of disabled children receiving cash payments under SSI was moderate before 1990. averaging 3 percent annually between 1984 and 1990.
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noncitizen noncitizens