Alan Simpson: “the question here is, who should pay for assistance to a new immigrant? Should the sponsor who brought the person in the…”

“the question here is, who should pay for assistance to a new immigrant? Should the sponsor who brought the person in the United States and made the promise, the affidavit of support, or should the taxpayer? The bill before the Senate requires that all means tested--I am talking only about means-tested welfare programs--include the income of the sponsor, the person who promised their relative would never use public assistance, when determining whether a new arrival is eligible for assistance. That is as simple as it can be. The only exceptions are for soup kitchens, school lunch and WIC. That is it. This truth in application, that is it. The U.S. Government expects sponsors to keep their promises to care for their immigrant relatives. The Graham amendment would gut the provisions of this bill, would limit sponsored-alien deeming to only SSI, AFDC, food stamps, and public housing programs, that being almost unchanged from current law. It would exempt Medicaid, job training, legal services, a wide range of other multibillion-dollar noncash welfare programs from welfare provisions in the bill. I oppose the amendment.”