Speech #1050136553

I do not believe that a similar provision. if brought to the floor of the Senate under our rules for full debate. could have possibly passed. And. yet. in a simple bill on ag research. we now have $818 million of funding for food stamps. All of these food stamps go to immigrants who have come to the country and who now have legal status. We had. through the welfare reform bill. eliminated these benefits in a bill which passed both Houses of Congress overwhelmingly and. by the way. is. in terms of the publics mind. the most popular bill that we have passed in the last 3 years. This bill. in a provision that was voted on in neither House of Congress. overturns a substantial portion of our welfare reform bill and gives $818 million of food stamps to immigrants. The bill also sets up a brand new funding mechanism for the Fund for Rural America and provides a $100 million entitlement. which spends out very slowly. but it ultimately spends out every penny of $100 million. So we now have four entitlement programs in a simple bill that set out to fund ag research.