Speech #1050045987

I rise today to offer an amendment to S. 947. the Budget Reconciliation Act. that will redress what I assume to be an inadvertent omission in a section of this bill that discriminates against Amerasian children of U.S. military personnel who served in Vietnam. My amendment will add a new provision to section 5817 to include Amerasian children to the category of legal aliens eligible for Medicaid. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 excluded from eligibility these children of American soldiers because they are admitted as refugees under section 584 of the Foreign Operations. Export Financing. and Related Programs Act of 1988. rather than section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. under which refugees are excepted from the Welfare Region legislations ban on Medicaid. SSI. and other forms of assistance. This amendment corrects that oversight. Because there is a cost associated with this amendment. I propose to offset it by mandating that the Attorney General of the United States. acting through the Immigration and Naturalization Service. impose a $150 processing fee on each illegal alien deported from the United States who committed a felony while in this country. According to CBO. this will generate the revenue necessary to offset the cost of my amendment over the 5year period for which the welfare bill excludes aliens from Medicaid eligibility. I hope that I can count on my colleagues support for this worthwhile amendment.