Mr. President. this legislation is necessary to put into law those very important provisions of the recent immigration bill which were deleted at the insistence of the White House. The taxpayers of the United States. and particularly those in the most heavily immigrationimpacted States such as California. deserve our protection of the public treasury as contained in this measure. Without the provisions included in this bill. persons who are eligible to receive food stamps and other public assistance will now be permitted to bring to the United States their immigrant relatives whose income is also below the threshold for many of the Nations welfare programs. And this. despite. our professed tradition of not allowing any person "likely. at any time. to become a public charge" to immigrate to this country. Without the provisions of this bill. illegal aliens will continue to receive drivers licenses. and under the "motorvoter" law provisions. these illegal aliens with drivers licenses could well wind up voting in U.S. elections. Without the protections contained in this bill. illegal aliens could continue to receive treatment for AIDS at taxpayers expense. Please hear thatpersons who should not even be in the countrywho are here in violation of our laws--could receive treatment for AIDS at a current average cost of $119.000 per person. Without this legislation. illegal aliens will be permitted to remain in public housing for up to 18 months. even after they have been identified and are determined to be ineligible for this taxpayerfunded assistance. An unconscionable result. Without the provisions of this bill. immigrants who have become dependent on taxpayerfunded welfare will now be able to evade deportation because of a previous court decisionmaking immigrants on public assistance immune from deportation. This bill will clearly define the term "public charge" and make that important provision enforceable once again. Without the provisions herein. illegal aliens will continue to receive Social Security credit for performing unauthorized work in the United States. A startling result. Without the procedures provided in the measure for verifying an immigrants eligibility for welfare. we will continue to have illegal aliens who obtain welfare merely by claiming they are a U.S. citizen. And. without the authorization provided in this bill. States will not have the authority to establish their own verification systems in order to prevent illegal aliens from obtaining State and local welfare benefits. Mr. President. the provisions in this bill were included in the illegal immigration bills that passed by overwhelming majorities in both Houses of Congress. However. by holding the sword of a Government shutdown over the head of the Congress. President Clinton forced the Senate to delete these important provisions. This legislation will swiftly restore them. Most immigrants are hard working and selfsufficient. Many of those who do use welfare use it only because our laws and processes make it available to them. If it is not available. they will continue to work hard. succeed. and obtain the American dream without welfarejust as immigrants to this country have for most of our history. However. this administration not only resists sensible controls on the use of welfare by legal immigrants. it also insists on provisions that will result in illegal aliens accessing the welfare systemfor example. by falsely claiming to be U.S. citizens. The American people should be appalled by that. Mr. President. the efforts of this administration to so dramatically change a vital part of title V of the illegal immigration bill at the last minute illserves the taxpayers of this country. Both its policies and its tactics are dead wrong. This bill will remedy that cunning manipulation of the legislation process. and I urge my colleagues to support it.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization that immigrants are likely to become public charges and abuse welfare.