The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“FOOD STAMPS TO LEGAL IMMIGRANTS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S2966-S2967 on April 1, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
FOOD STAMPS TO LEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the 1996 welfare law unfairly reduced SSI, Medicaid and food stamp benefits for legal immigrants. Food stamps alone were cut by $25 billion. No other program has been cut as deeply.
Last year, recognizing that these cuts were too extreme, Congress restored SSI and Medicaid to many elderly and disabled immigrants. It's time to finish the job and ensure that those whose Medicaid and SSI were restored, do not go hungry. And we should do the same for children of legal immigrants.
Last week, the conferees on the Agricultural Research bill made a down payment toward restoring food stamps for the needy legal immigrants. The conference report on the bill includes $818 million for this program. It is far less than the $2 billion proposed in the President's budget, and it covers a much smaller group of immigrants.
The conferees' proposal is a bipartisan effort. Both Republicans and Democrats urged them to take this step as soon as possible.
Yet, the Republican leadership in the Senate is ignoring the urgent need. The Republican budget does not include a single penny to restore food stamps to immigrant children, refugees, Hmong veterans, or elderly and disabled legal immigrants, and the Republican leadership has declined to allow the Senate to pass on the Agricultural Research bill.
According to Department of Agriculture estimates, at least 935,000 low-income legal immigrants lost their federal food stamps in 1997 as a result of the 1996 welfare law. Nearly two-thirds are immigrant families with children.
Many legal immigrants live in poverty and have great difficulty feeding their families. In fact, according to the Department of Agriculture, the average legal immigrant denied food stamps has an income equal to just 62 percent of the poverty line, or about $8,000 for a family of three.
In addition, thousands of refugees who have applied for citizenship could lose food stamps as they wait in the naturalization backlog for their applications to be processed if the 5 year limit on food stamps for this group is not extended to 7 years.
The effects of these food stamps terminations is not limited to legal immigrants. Their children born here are American citizens but they too are facing sharp reductions in their food stamps. Their children remain eligible for food stamps themselves, but the removal of their parents from the program has meant that the food stamp benefits for their families have been cut by 50 to 70 percent in many cases. 600,000 poor children who are American citizens live in families where food stamp benefits have been reduced for this reason, resulting in less food for all family members, including the children.
The food stamp cut-off has hurt immigrant families, and it has also hurt state and local governments, who must fill the gap. As a result, governors and state legislatures have joined Congress to restore these food stamp benefits. As Governor Bush of Texas said, ``Food stamps are a federal program and the federal responsibility, but the federal government is shirking its responsibility. The rules have changed unfairly and retroactively for those least able to help themselves.''
It is time for the Senate to act on the bill. It is unconscionable that these benefits can continue to be denied.
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