Bob Miller of Nevada wrote in a letter. dated March 6. on behalf of the National Governors Association. expressing concern about "administrative provisions contained in the bill." which. if enacted. "could result in an unfunded mandate being passed on to State and local governments." This concern of Governors Thompson and Miller has. of course. now been confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office. Moreover. the National Association of Public Hospitals wrote to all Senators on April 12. noting. "This bill will lead to an increase in the number of uninsured patients and exacerbate an already tremendous burden of uncompensated care on public hospitals." This gets to another point that I offered in the unfunded mandates bill. which seemingly has gone unnoticed by the Congressional Budget Office. despite a vote of 93 to 6. That was a provision. which is now part of the Public Law 1044. which states that any Federal reductions in "reimbursements to State. local. and tribal governments for the costs associated with illegal. deportable. and excludable aliens. including courtmandated expenses related to emergency health care. education. or criminal justice." constitute part of the potential new obligations imposed upon States and are subject to the point of order as unfunded mandates. In numerous ways. S. 1664 does exactly that. It eliminates Federal reimbursement to the States. according to the Congressional Budget Office. by about $7 billion. I repeat. it eliminates Federal reimbursement to the States by about $7 billion over the period 1996 to 2002. a substantial portion of which is in health care costs associated with immigrants. In short. this bill. once again. creates an enormous unfunded mandate on State and local governments. Once again.
Keywords matched
immigrants deportable