Speech #1040242542

President. I am going to propose that we should strike this section from the bill and leave the question of what should be the eligibility rights of legal aliens to the process of resolution in the conference committee and our final action on the results of that conference committee. There are extreme differences between the provisions in the immigration bill that the Senate passed in May and what we are now being asked to consider in July. Let me just mention two of those principal differences. The essential concept of eligibility in the immigration bill was the concept of "deeming." Deeming is the responsibility of the sponsor who has made it possible for the legal alien who comes into the United States to have the sponsors income added or deemed to be part of the income of the legal alien. in determining whether the legal alien is eligible for Federal needsbased programs. This bill uses a different concept. and that is a concept of a prohibition of legal aliens for a variety of Federal benefit programs. I might say. Mr. President. that much of the debate on the question of rights of legal aliens is a result of the report that was originally sanctioned by this Congress called "U.S. Immigration Policy: Restoring Credibility." often referred to as the "Barbara Jordan report." after our esteemed recentlypassed colleague. In the reportthe Jordan reportit states. "The safety net provided by needstested programs should be available to those whom we have affirmatively accepted as legal immigrants into our communities." It points out that it is appropriate to look to the sponsor to be the primary caregiver for those they have sponsored into the United States. They endorse the concept of deeming. But they say that under circumstances where a sponsor is not available. the sponsor has died. the sponsor has suffered illness. or some other incapacitating condition that made them unable to meet their obligations. that immigrants should continue to be eligible. "A policy that categorically denied legal immigrants access to such safety nets. based solely on alienage. would lead to a gross inequality between very similar individuals and undermine our immigration goals to reunite families and quickly integrate immigrants into American society." So that is one fundamental difference. This is a difference. Mr. President. which will have real impact on the lives of real residents of our country. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD the circumstances of Polyna Novak. a legal immigrant who has come to the United States as a refugee from persecution in the Soviet Union and how the difference in the immigration bills use of deeming and this bills use of an absolute bar would have an impact on her life.