Arlen Specter: “I am pleased to support the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998. This legislation…”

“I am pleased to support the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998. This legislation provides funding for the federal crop insurance program, important agricultural research programs and the restoration of food stamp benefits to approximately 250,000 legal immigrants. I have long been a strong supporter of federal nutrition programs that help to combat hunger. On November 24, 1997, Senator Harkin and I sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Franklin Raines, which was signed by forty-five of our Senate colleagues. Our letter urged the Administration to provide funding for food stamp benefits for some of the most vulnerable members of our society: legal immigrants who are children, elderly, or disabled. As the Agricultural Research bill was sent to conference, I joined with four of my colleagues in a March 23, 1998 letter urging the conferees to provide relief to poor legal immigrants and refugees who previously were eligible but had lost federal food stamps under the 1996 welfare law. I am pleased that the final conference report restores these benefits.”