Speech #1050190687

I want to take a moment and extend the regrets of the gentleman from Florida that. due to a death in his family. he could not be here personally to manage this bill on the floor today. Mr. Speaker. this is a timesensitive bill that makes technical amendments to clarify provisions of benefits for noncitizens and to improve the provision of unemployment insurance. child support and supplemental security income benefits. This legislation includes a handful of seemingly minor but in fact important changes that serve several goals. Each of its provisions has drawn bipartisan support. and I see my colleague from Michigan is here as well. None of the provisions is opposed by the administration. The bills major provision ensures that every elderly or disabled noncitizen already dependent on supplemental security income benefits when we passed welfare reform will remain eligible. At the same time we are maintaining the underlying policy on welfare for newly arriving immigrants achieved in the welfare reform law. that those who arrived after 1996 must work or naturalize before becoming eligible for government benefits. Second. we are making a number of common sense changes that encourage work and personal responsibility in several programs under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. Finally. many people are familiar with the MakeAWish Foundation or the many similar organizations that fulfill the dreams of children with life threatening conditions by. for example. sending a child with terminal cancer to Disney World.