Political Quotes

“the Dole bill requires that income and resources of an immigrant sponsor be deemed as available to the immigrant when determining eligibility for all federally funded, means-tested programs. This is the case, whether or not the immigrant is a United States citizen. In other words, it creates two classes of citizens. A naturalized citizen, under the Dole bill, could not be eligible for any form of assistance. I believe this is unprecedented and, as I said, creates two classes of American citizens, which will surely be challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds. So I rise today to offer an amendment to this bill to provide equal treatment for naturalized and native-born U.S. citizens. This amendment is cosponsored by Senators Kohl and Simon. It is supported by the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the United States Catholic Conference, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, as well as several other organizations. The amendment simply removes any reference to citizens in all places in the underlying bill that require deeming, and leaves in place the deeming requirements for benefits to legal aliens. I think the question before the Senate is this: Does the Constitution of the United States of America provide for two distinct classes of United States citizens--those who are naturalized and those who are native-born?”