Dana Rohrabacher: “this amendment is one of a series of amendments that I intend to offer to end the practice of providing Federal benefits…”

“this amendment is one of a series of amendments that I intend to offer to end the practice of providing Federal benefits to illegal aliens. Each of these amendments will have the effect of stemming the huge drain on the Federal budget caused by opening the Federal treasury without restriction to people who have violated the laws of our country by coming here. In this case, my amendment will also eliminate one of the largest unfunded Federal mandates in existence. This mandate has come about through a combination of the Player versus Doe Supreme Court decision and a lack of congressional policy in this area. In 1982, the Supreme Court decided by a 5 to 4 vote that, in the absence of congressional policy to the contrary, States must provide a free education to illegal aliens. Let me repeat that, Madam Chairman. This Supreme Court decision was not only decided by one vote, in a more liberal Supreme Court than we have today, but even by its terms, it is a mandate on the States, not the Federal Government. And, as is obvious to anyone who actually reads the majority opinion in this case, the only reason the State of Texas was not allowed to make the distinction between citizens and legal residents on the one hand, and illegal aliens on the other, was because Congress had made no such distinction.”