Political Quotes

“Mr. President, bottom line, this bill as drafted, without this amendment, is a massive cost shift. As I said, the costs are shifted essentially to four States: Texas, Florida, New York, and California. What this bill says presently is no one in this country legally who is not a citizen can send their child to a Head Start Program, can be on Medicaid. It is not prospective. It affects everybody presently. That is why it is a cost shift. It would be one thing if it were prospective and said in the future, but it does not. It says to every legal immigrant's child out there that is in a Head Start class, 'Next year, forget it, you are no longer there.' That is essentially the bottom line. Or somebody in the State has to pay for it, either the State or the county. California has a huge deficit. According to the General Accounting Office, California also has 38.2 percent of all legal immigrants, but 52.4 percent of all immigrants receiving Federal welfare. New York has 12.6 percent; Florida, 8.9 percent; Texas, 8.6 percent; and other States, 31.7 percent. So you see, there is a huge cost shift in dollars from the Federal Government to the States. That involves adoption assistance, it involves foster care, it involves child protective services. Can you believe it? If a child is being abused, the protective services are not going to be available if they are a legal immigrant?”