In 1996. the DBE program brought in $4.2 million for minorityowned firms. or 7.3 percent of Federal contracting funds. It is imperative that we continue our diligence in helping these businesses fight against discrimination and flourish in their respective industries. This year. we fought for a restoration of Food Stamps to legal immigrants who unfairly lost their benefits. As my colleagues recall. the Republican welfare bill in 1996 introduced several provisions harmful to legal immigrants. including a prohibition that cut 935.000 individuals from the Food Stamp program alone. Although eligibility later was restored in 1997 for certain immigrants in selected Federal assistance programs. many others remained ineligible for necessary benefits in the Federal safety net that helps poorer families. We included a partial. $818 million restoration in the agricultural research bill conference report. defeating a motion to recommit the conference report with instructions stating that Food Stamp benefits be restored only to refugees and asylees who were lawfully residing in the U.S. on August 22. 1996. Immigrants were inequitably subjected to an arbitrary cutoff of benefits that hurt them dearly and took food out of the mouths of young children. We made sure that at least part of this injustice was reversed. I hope that a similar range of issues will be addressed in a statewide Hispanic Leadership Summit--the second one in a serieswhich will take place in Nevada this October.
Keywords matched
refugees immigrants Immigrants