Speech #1060020226

Mr. President. I am proud to join Senator MOYNIHAN as an original cosponsor of the Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act of 1999. This bill takes the next. important step toward restoring benefits to legal immigrants. Legal immigrants are people in our communities who are in this country legally. They pay taxes and they contribute to our economy and society. Many of our parents. or grandparents. were legal immigrants themselves. The 1996 welfare reform law forced this group to lose their eligibility for various programs. including food stamps. Medicaid and SSI. More than 900.000 legal immigrants--including hundreds of thousands of children and elderly individualswere cut from the Food Stamp Program alone. with nothing to abate their hunger. In the years since the passage of the welfare reform act. Congress has correctly realized that many of the cuts went too far. and slowly benefits are being restored. For instance. the 1997 Balanced Budget Act restored SSI and Medicaid benefits to a narrow class of immigrants. refugees and asylees. Last Congress. I worked hard to include $818 million in the Agricultural Research. Extension. and Education Reauthorization Act to restore food stamp benefits for thousands of legal immigrants. This legislation restored food stamps to legal immigrants who are disabled or elderly. or who later become disabled. and who resided in the United States prior to August 22. 1996. That law also increased food stamp eligibility time limits--from 5 years to 7 yearsfor refugees and asylees who came to this country to avoid persecution. Hmong refugees who aided U.S. military efforts in Southeast Asia were also covered. as were children residing in the United States prior to August 22. Though the Agriculture Research Act restored food stamp eligibility to children of legal immigrants. many of these children are not receiving food stamps and are experiencing alarming instances of hunger. In its recent report entitled "Who is Leaving the Food Stamp Program? An Analysis of Caseload Changes from 1994 to 1997." the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that participation among children living with parents who are legal immigrants fell significantly faster than children living with nativeborn parents. It appears that restrictions on adult legal immigrants deterred the participation of their children. That is a disturbing development that must be rectified. and the legislation we are introducing today would go a long way toward making the situation right by restoring food stamp eligibility to all legal immigrants. The Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act of 1999 would also address the medical needs of legal immigrants. This bill will permit states to offer Medicaid coverage to all eligible legal immigrant pregnant women and children. as well as certain "medically needy" disabled legal immigrants. This legislation would also restore SSI eligibility to elderly and poor legal immigrants who were in this country prior to passage of the welfare reform law. Under current law. legal immigrants who suffer from domestic or elder abuse must wait 5 years to receive Medicaid. TANF. SSI and food stamp benefits if they entered the United States after August 1996. The Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act of 1999 would amend this law so that these victims would not have to wait to receive assistance. I am proud to cosponsor the Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act of 1999. It is a needed bill that will help fill some of the continuing gaps left by the welfare reform law. I look forward to working with Senator MOYNIHAN and all members of the Senate to restore Medicaid. SSI. and food stamp benefits to legal immigrants in need. By Mr. McCAIN (for himself.