Mr. Chairman. the legal immigrant provisions never should have been In the welfare bill. When the President signed It. he said hc was going to work to take out these provisions. as did a number of us who voted for this bill. This Is the first step to redeem that promise. Welfare reform was always about moving younger people off of welfare to work. not penalizing elderly legal immigrants. We have to go further than this. This is the first step. and I congratulate all who joined in this overcoming the initial resistance to this effort. Mr. Chairman. this has been a long haul. When the President announced his decision to sign a wellare bill. substantially reshaped after his two earlier vetoes. he promised to work to change several parts he disliked. particulary those relating to legal immigrants. When a number of us spoke on the Floor who voted for the bill. we made the same promise. Today. we take the first step to redeem that promise. Welfare reform was about moving mostly younger parents with children off welfare into work. safeguarding the health and care of their childrennot about penalizing elderly. often disabled legal immigrants. To right this wrong. we have had to overcome considerable resistance That we are moving in ihis direction now is a tribute to many of those unnamed. either In the Indicated sponsorship of this amendment or In membership in this Congress. to the voluntary organizations throughout this country who raised their voices. often when some of the elected officials in their own state were silent. and to the legal Immigrants themselves. who came to this nation. sometimes as refugees trom persecution. from a variety of nationsIraq. the Soviet Union. Vietnam. Latin America and China. among others. and who spoke out to all of America. reminding us that we built this nation with the brains and labors of legal immigrants. and that we should not turn our backs on them in 1997.
Keywords matched
refugees immigrant immigrants Immigrants