Speech #1050050174

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. more than 93 percent of the cuts in entitlement programs in the 104th Congress came from programs for lowincome people. Congress reduced entitlement programs by $65.6 billion over the period from 1996 to 2002. I am deeply concerned about the extent to which legal immigrants are being harmed under the Welfare Reform act. The act cut $22 billion in services to legal immigrantsa full 44 percent of the overall legislation. The House Ways and Means Committee reconciliation mark provided the least generous allocation of funding for legal immigrants as compared to the budget agreement and the Senate Finance Committee mark. The $9 billion allocation in the Ways and Means mark violates the budget agreement. and it covers fewer people. Since it does not cover those who. in the future. could be eligible for SSI assistance. it will leave many without any means of support. According to the Social Security Administration. 125.000 fewer people will be served by the House agreement compared to the Budget Agreement. In Minnesota it puts 1.145 elderly immigrants at risk of losing benefits. Moreover. it puts an additional 161.000 people at risk of losing their benefits because their citizenship is unknown or difficult to prove. Probably the worst provision in this agreement is that it makes an inhumane and irrational distinction among disabled people based on an arbitrary date on the calendar. If you were disabled and receiving SSI on August 22. 1996. then you retain eligibility. If not. there is no hope for receiving future benefits. The Durbin/Wellstone amendment restores food stamp benefits to legal immigrant families with children 18 years old and under at a cost of $750 million over 5 years. Our offset is achieved by placing limits on the amount of Federal money that States can use to offset their cost share requirements in the food stamp and Medicaid programs. Our amendment would take a small step toward addressing the use of these funds and target the savings into food stamp benefits for legal immigrants who have dependent children. Over 5 years. we hope to save $1 billion. which fully covers the cost of restoring food stamp benefits. Unlike other lowincome families in this country. legal immigrants are banned from receiving food stamp benefits. Food stamps are the Nations largest and most successful food assistance program and cuts to this program made up half of the savings in last years welfare reform effort. According to CBO. 17 percent of the immigrants receiving food stamps are children. This means more than 150.000 children have lost access to this critical program. In Minnesota roughly 15.900 individuals are expected to lose food stamp benefits. According to INS. most of these immigrant families will naturalize within 10 years. making them eligible to apply for food stamps. CBO estimates that it will cost $750 million to restore food stamp benefits for children 18 years and under. Senator DURBIN and I have provided an offset that achieves that amount over 5 years.