Speech #1060020215

Mr. President. I urge my Senate colleagues to support the Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act in order to restore the benefits unfairly eliminated by the 1996 welfare law. In 1996. Congress passed a socalled welfare reform law that drastically restricted the ability of legal immigrants to participate in public assistance programs. For the first time in history. legal immigrants were cut off from most federal aid. The law barred them from food stamps. SSI. and other benefits. It banned them for 5 years from AFDC. Medicaid. and other programs and gave states the option to permanently ban them from these programs. These provisions have had a devastating effect on immigrant families. Elderly and disabled immigrants were notified that they would be turned out of nursing homes or cut off from disability payments. Some even took their own lives. rather than burden their families. Far too many human tragedies have resulted from the law. Fortunately. many Members of Congress realized that the provisions had gone too far. and we passed legislation in the past two years to restore benefits for many. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the Agricultural Research Act of 1998 restored eligibility for Medicaid. SSI and Food Stamps for hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants. Nevertheless. many immigrants who came here legally are still suffering from restrictive provisions that remain in effect. The Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act is needed to bring back this safety net for immigrants who fall on hard times. especially those who are in great need. such as pregnant women. children. the elderly. the disabled. the poor. and victims of abuse. The Act will permit states to provide Medicaid to all eligible legal immigrant pregnant women and children. It will permit states to extend Medicaid to "medically needy" legal immigrants who are disabled but not on SSI. It will permit states to cover legal immigrant children under CHIP. if they are also providing Medicaid coverage for legal immigrant children. For legal immigrants who arrived before August 1996. the Act will restore SSI eligibility for those who are elderly and poor. but not disabled by SSI standards. It will also restore food stamp eligibility to all legal immigrants who have not yet had their eligibility restored. primarily parents of poor children. For legal immigrants who arrived after August 1996. the Act will restore SSI eligibility for those who become disabled after reaching the United States. Finally. the Act will exempt postAugust 1996 legal immigrants who are victims of domestic or elder abuse from the fiveyear ban on Medicaid and welfare assistance. and restore their eligibility for SSI and food stamps. These reforms are essential in order to fulfill our obligation to those who legally entered our country. Many of them are family members of American citizens.