Speech #1100199563

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I think the torch of the Statue of Liberty might just be burning a little brighter today because we are soon going to send to the President a bill that helps the most vulnerable on our shores. refugees coming to America fleeing persecution. injustice. torture and even the threat of death. They are Jews from the former Soviet Union. Kurds from Iraq. Hmong fighters from Vietnam and other oppressed peoples from around the globe. Refugees often flee their home countries with little more than their clothes on their backs. When they are disabled or elderly. employment can be difficult. which means they face almost complete destitution without assistance. Our Nations program that is designed to help lowincome elderly and disabled individuals. the Supplemental Security Income program. or SSI. now terminates assistance to these refugees after they have been in the United States for 7 years. This cutoff was designed with the expectation that refugees would become citizens within this time frame and would then be eligible for continued benefits. However. a series of obstacles make that transition to citizenship difficult within the 7year limit of SSI benefits. First. a refugee must live in the United States for at least 5 years before they are even eligible to submit an application for citizenship. A refugee must then confront a lengthy application process which takes up to 3 to 4 years. Backlogs in processing citizenship applications have been caused by a variety of issues. including protracted background checks put in place after the September 11 terrorist attacks. There are other barriers to citizenship. such as the continuing impact of a recent annual cap on the number of asylees who may become legal permanent residents. a status which asylees must maintain for 4 years before they submit an application for citizenship. Also. many disabled and elderly refugees encounter difficulties navigating the application process. which includes both an English language test and a U.S. civics test. We passed bipartisan legislation a year ago in the House to extend SSI benefits for refugees and other humanitarian immigrants. The legislation before us today is that same bill sent back to us with an amendment by the Senate. The most significant modification by the Senate was to require all refugees to sign an affidavit that they are making a good faith effort to become U.S. citizens. This bill. H.R. 2608. would generally extend SSI benefits for an additional 2 years for disabled and elderly refugees. asylees and other qualified humanitarian immigrants. including those whose benefits have expired in the past. Benefits could be extended for an additional time for those awaiting a decision on the pending application for citizenship. These policies would be in effect through 2011 and would restore SSI benefits for roughly 20.000 refugees. The legislation completely offsets the cost of this SSI extension for refugees with a provision that would reduce Federal tax refunds to recover fraudulent unemployment insurance payments. This Federal tax revenue offset authority already exists to collect unpaid child support. unpaid State taxes and debts owed to Federal agencies. Before pursuing a tax offset. a State would be required to notify the individual and provide them with at least 60 days to contest the amount being recovered. By catching and reducing fraud in the unemployment insurance system. this provision not only offsets the cost of SSI extension for refugees. but it also would reduce unemployment taxes on employers. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the legislation will cut payroll taxes by $315 million over the next 10 years. Madam Speaker. refugees come to this country fleeing persecution. They reside in our country legally. and those eligible for SSI are disabled. elderly or both. This legislation extends a modest benefit to help them provide for their most basic essentials.