David Vitter: “Congressman McCrery laid out seven very simple and straightforward questions that go exactly to this point: Is there any…”

“Congressman McCrery laid out seven very simple and straightforward questions that go exactly to this point: Is there any reliable way to ensure that this program is reserved for American citizens, not illegal aliens in the country? Unfortunately, the answers--all seven of them--came back: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the Administrator's responses. If implemented as written, would the name and Social Security number verification process in Section 301 of the Senate SCHIP bill allow SSA to verify whether someone is a naturalized citizen? No, the name/SSN verification process only indicates whether this information matches SSA's records. Our understanding of Section 301 is that it would provide States with the option of using a match as a conclusive presumption that someone is a citizen, whether naturalized or not. Since we have no data specific to this particular population, we have no basis for estimating how many noncitizens would match if this language were passed by Congress.”