Session #104 · 1995–97

Speech #1040241821

But what concerns me is that once again the bill that we will deal with goes too far. As you know. I think. and I want to talk about legal immigrants. not illegal immigrants because they are eligible for nothing and should be eligible for nothing. but I want to talk about what is fair to taxpayers. and I will give my colleagues a couple of examples. In my district there are large numbers of Vietnamese freedom fighters. people who fought communism who came to this country as originally refugees. ultimately became residents. and under the bill before us. if after paying taxes for years and years and years. 14 years. they get a stroke. they cannot get nursing home coverage. Let me talk about another example. An immigrant who comes in with her husband. and her husband works for 50 years and dies. and then as she is an old person. she is 65. she has a stroke. and she is not eligible to get the kind of nursing home care that the widow of every other taxpayer in America can look to get. Now. I do not think that is fair. There are some abuses among immigrant groups. and there are necessary steps that need to be taken. and in fact the Deal bill earlier this year did deal with those. But this is unfair. I think when we look at our taxpayers. if they are legal residents or citizens. we ought to make sure that people who have worked hard and paid their taxes are treated fairly. and this socalled reform bill fails in that regard.
Keywords matched
refugees immigrant illegal immigrants immigrants

Classification

Target group
Also mentioned
Vietnamese
Sentiment
Negative
Stereotyping
No
Confidence
95%
Model
gemini-2.0-flash
Framing
Legal / procedural Economic threat

Speaker & context

Speaker
ZOE LOFGREN
Party
D
Chamber
H
State
CA
Gender
F
Date
1996-07-17
Speech ID
1040241821
Paragraph
#0
← Prev Next →