Lincoln Chafee: “Today Senators Feinstein, D'Amato, Lieberman, DeWine, Moynihan, and Mikulski and I are introducing legislation to…”

“Today Senators Feinstein, D'Amato, Lieberman, DeWine, Moynihan, and Mikulski and I are introducing legislation to protect legal immigrants who are facing the loss of critical SSI and food stamp benefits later this summer. Now that the welfare bill has become law, the crisis facing many legal immigrants, especially the elderly and disabled, is all too evident. For those legal immigrants who face the loss of assistance in August and September, the outlook is grim. The bill we are introducing focuses on the plight of these legal immigrants. First, our bill grandfathers all legal immigrants who were receiving SSI or food stamp benefits as of August 22, 1996, the date the President signed the welfare bill. Second, our bill grandfathers those refugees who were in the country on August 22, 1996, regardless of whether they were receiving benefits. Why this approach? To us, it is a matter of fundamental fairness. That is the principle that underlies our bill. We believe that those who were in this country and playing by the rules should not have the rules suddenly changed out from under them. As for refugees, we provide them a slightly broader provision, since unlike other immigrants they do not have sponsors and they come here to flee persecution. This is a matter of great importance to the residents in the States represented before you today.”