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White House Seeking to Restore Food Stamp Aid for Noncitizens
The New York Times ^ | 01/10/2002 | ROBERT PEAR

Posted on 01/09/2002 8:36:45 PM PST by Pokey78

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — The Bush administration proposed today to restore food stamps to many legal immigrants, whose eligibility for benefits was severely restricted by the 1996 welfare law.

The White House said that at least 363,000 people — legal immigrants who have not become citizens — would qualify for food stamps under the plan, to be included in the budget President Bush sends Congress in early February. The proposal would cost the federal government $2.1 billion over 10 years, the administration said. In October, 18.4 million people were receiving food stamps.

Mr. Bush's plan, or something like it, has an excellent chance of becoming law. The Senate is considering such changes as part of a far-reaching bill to reauthorize farm and nutrition programs. Under the proposal, the White House said, noncitizens with low incomes could qualify for food stamps after living here legally for five years. A similar test already applies to legal immigrants seeking Medicaid or cash assistance.

The welfare bill passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 made noncitizens ineligible for food stamps and many other types of assistance financed with federal money. Supporters of the ban, mostly Republicans, argued that federal benefits drew immigrants to the United States and then discouraged them from working.

Senator Phil Gramm, Republican of Texas, expressed the intent of Congress in 1996 when he said, "Immigrants should come to the U.S. with their sleeves rolled up, ready to work, not with their hands out, ready to go on welfare."

But today, amid a recession that is hurting many immigrants, and with the government waging a war on terrorism that has targeted some immigrants, Mr. Bush is eager to show his commitment to them. He is also eager to address domestic problems — a transition his father failed to make effectively a decade ago after the Persian Gulf war.

Many of those who could benefit from the food stamp proposal are Hispanic. The White House has been ardently courting Hispanic voters.

In an interview today, Newt Gingrich, the House speaker in 1996, said: "I strongly support the president's initiative. In a law that has reduced welfare by more than 50 percent, this is one of the provisions that went too far. In retrospect, it was wrong. President Bush's instincts are exactly right."

Mr. Bush is selectively disclosing parts of his budget in advance — specifically, those proposals likely to win political support — as Mr. Clinton often did.

Antihunger groups and Hispanic groups praised the Bush plan. "This is an enormous step forward, for which the president should be congratulated," said Cecilia Muñoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group. "Mr. Bush did not speak out on this in the presidential campaign, and he had not done so since he assumed office."

As governor of Texas and as president, Mr. Bush has taken pride in his good relations with Hispanic Americans. Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, said last year that capturing a bigger share of the Hispanic vote was "our mission and our goal" and would require assiduous work by "all of us in every way."

But the Republican Party is split, and some Republicans have alienated Hispanic voters by espousing a restrictionist immigration policy.

Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado, said he would fight the president's food stamp proposal because it would "entice people to come to the United States to be on welfare."

Mr. Tancredo, chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus, with 55 members in the House, said: "The president has chosen to steal a page out of the Democrats' playbook. The Democrats have been enormously successful in buying votes through welfare. That's all this is, a sop to a Democrat-leaning voter bloc, an attempt to expand our political base by including the Hispanic vote."

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the government has detained more than 1,100 noncitizens for questioning and has stepped up enforcement of immigration laws. Mr. Bush insists he is waging war on terrorists, not immigrants, and his food stamp proposal can be cited to support that claim.

James D. Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an antihunger group, said, "It's really positive that the administration wants to extend food stamp benefits to this group of legal immigrants." He said his group had been supporting a broader restoration of food stamps, as proposed by Senators Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, and Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa. But Mr. Weill said, "Everybody is moving in the same direction, and we are delighted to see that."

The economy is worse now than in 1996, when Mr. Clinton signed the welfare bill. "Immigrants have been hit hard by the economic downturn," Ms. Muñoz said, "and there's no safety net for those who arrived after 1996."

Welfare and food stamp rolls have plummeted since 1996, and members of Congress express much less concern now about being overwhelmed with the programs' cost, even though budget surpluses have evaporated.

In general, food stamps are available to people with gross incomes up to 30 percent above the poverty level. A three-person household can qualify if its gross income does not exceed $1,585 a month.

Federal officials said Mr. Bush's proposal would make it much easier for state and local employees to determine whether an immigrant was eligible for food stamps. The immigrants are generally ineligible now, but there are some exceptions based on a person's age, work history and date of entry into the United States.

About 800,000 immigrants were removed from food stamp rolls in 1996, according to the Agriculture Department, which runs the program. Two years later, benefits were restored to about 175,000 immigrants, mostly children and older people who were in the country before the legislation was signed in August 1996.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hughhewitt
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1 posted on 01/09/2002 8:36:45 PM PST by Pokey78
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To: Pokey78
sick
2 posted on 01/09/2002 8:39:57 PM PST by expose
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To: Pokey78
Major mistake.
3 posted on 01/09/2002 8:41:43 PM PST by week 71
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To: Pokey78
Here he goes pandering again. I don't think I will vote for Bush again, I'll vote for Mickey Mouse first.
4 posted on 01/09/2002 8:47:21 PM PST by dougherty
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To: Pokey78
This Bumper Sticker seems to fit.

WORK HARDER

5 posted on 01/09/2002 8:47:54 PM PST by stlrocket
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To: Pokey78
If these people can't support themselves, then send them home. Geez, what is so hard to figure out here? This isn't freeloader central!!!!
6 posted on 01/09/2002 8:53:47 PM PST by DoughtyOne
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To: Pokey78
In his pandering, Bush is paving the way for permanent socialism. When he is dead I will be trying to survive the mess he has left me. By that time the Republican party will resemble the conservative party of England.
7 posted on 01/09/2002 9:10:49 PM PST by Deport Billary
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To: ALL
AM I LOSING MY MIND OR IS BUSH???? WTF?????
8 posted on 01/09/2002 9:14:56 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
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To: Pokey78
GWB really ticks me off with this constant Mexican appeasement!
9 posted on 01/09/2002 10:06:53 PM PST by brat
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To: Pokey78
It's a double win for the liberals. Food stamps aren't only a handout to the poor.

Food stamps are issued by the Dept. of Agriculture. Food stamps are a farm subsidy, always were...

10 posted on 01/09/2002 10:21:38 PM PST by lewislynn
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To: lewislynn
Well, He can still be a one-term president like his father.
11 posted on 01/09/2002 10:41:22 PM PST by popeye125
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To: My Favorite Headache
What in hell is wrong with him?
12 posted on 01/09/2002 10:42:25 PM PST by Thorondir
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To: *Hugh Hewitt; Victoria Delsoul; Pelham; RonDog; susangirl; janetgreen; harpseal; Travis McGee...
White House Seeking to Restore Food Stamp Aid for Noncitizens
My vote is was(?) Dubya's to lose.

I dunno, anymore. He's riding at 80% in the polls, and he wants to lead us backwards?

Hugh Hewitt, are you listening?


13 posted on 01/09/2002 10:51:22 PM PST by Sabertooth
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To: Pokey78
The difference between Gore and Bush is that with Gore I would be pissed off 90% of the time, as opposed to 30% of the time with Bush, well this move is part of that 30%.
14 posted on 01/09/2002 10:55:12 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: stlrocket
Yes, work harder to support the ever growing contingent of new immigrants in this country that like all our freebies. This will be remembered when GW is up for reelection. As I said on another thread I didn't vote for GW to be president of Mexico and the greater 3rd world. I guess there is no such thing as an Illegal Alien anymore. They even vote in our elections these days.
15 posted on 01/09/2002 11:01:46 PM PST by WRhine
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To: popeye125
Well, He can still be a one-term president like his father.

His dad was an idiot too when it came to doling out the goodies to the Hispanics. Yep, look where it got him.

16 posted on 01/09/2002 11:06:18 PM PST by WRhine
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To: WRhine
Why is he hellbent on dragging us down into the incompetent, disease-ridden turd world? I just don't get what he hopes to accomplish. Do you?

Liberalism must be crushed!
17 posted on 01/09/2002 11:07:25 PM PST by Thorondir
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To: Pokey78
Over my dead body...

Read my lips!


18 posted on 01/09/2002 11:07:32 PM PST by ppaul
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To: dfwgator
The difference between Gore and Bush is that with Gore I would be pissed off 90% of the time, as opposed to 30% of the time with Bush, well this move is part of that 30%.

That 30% includes the non-difference between Gore and Bush in selling out your kids and their future kids to a bunch of 3rd world immigrants who are invading this country illegally and grabbing all they can from our law abiding citizens. That 30% is TOO MUCH for me. If he goes ahead with this and more importantly leaves our borders open to the ongoing invasion from Mexico I will never vote for him again.

19 posted on 01/09/2002 11:14:40 PM PST by WRhine
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To: Pokey78
I wish the president would show as much support for the 1.8 million American Citizens who have lost their jobs in the past year and quit pandering to persons, legal and illegal who have felt it was not necessary to pledge allegiance to our flag or obey our immigration laws. Let's take care of our own and let Mr. Vincente Fox take care of his own citizens and quit asking the United States taxpayer to slave longer and harder for illegal aliens and others who think the United States is a global ATM machine.
20 posted on 01/09/2002 11:17:26 PM PST by healey22
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