J. Exon: “Mr. President, last Friday I offered an amendment to the welfare reform bill which states that Federal benefits shall…”

“Mr. President, last Friday I offered an amendment to the welfare reform bill which states that Federal benefits shall not be paid or provided to any person who is not lawfully present within the United States. I have introduced measures to address this problem in the past and the Senate accepted a very similar amendment in 1993 by a vote of 85 for and only 2 against, and only to see it unfortunately dropped in conference. My amendment specifically defines who is a person lawfully present within our country. Previous prohibitions on the payment of benefits to illegal aliens have been weakened by expansive agency regulations and court decision. My amendment also provides for a number of exceptions. Illegal aliens would still be eligible for elementary and secondary education, emergency medical services, disaster relief, school lunches, child nutrition, and immunization. Also, States would not be obligated to provide benefits to those not lawfully present in our country, and funds would be provided for States to set up systems to verify the status of the applicants.”