Paul Simon

Mr. SIMON

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the present amendment be set aside so that I may offer an amendment.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I confess some lack of understanding of precisely where we are in terms of the parliamentary situation.

Mr. SIMON. I thank the Senator from Mississippi.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, my amendment conforms the Senate amendment to a similar provision in the House amendment in terms of being eligible for deportation if you are here illegally and you use Federal programs of assistance. Under the Senate bill, an immigrant receiving public assistance for 12 months within his first year in the United States may be deported as a public charge. That would include, for example, higher education assistance. The Presiding Officer, the Senator from Indiana, is on the Labor and Human Resources Committee. If a legal resident came in and got job training, under this amendment, unless we conform it to the House amendment, that would make you subject to deportation. If one of your children got into Head Start, that would do it. My amendment would make this bill precisely like the House bill and limit the assistance to the basis for deportation to AFDC, SSI, and, frankly, SSI is the program that is being abused. As to the other welfare programs, legal immigrants to our country use these programs less than native-born Americans. But my amendment would limit the AFDC, SSI, food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and State cash assistance. I think it makes sense. I cannot imagine any reason for opposition. But I see my friend from Wyoming is not on the floor right now. I am not sure what his disposition may be on this amendment. But I would be happy to answer any questions that my colleagues have. Mr. President, if no one else seeks the floor, I ask to set aside my amendment so that I may offer a second amendment.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I see my colleague from California, who has greater concern in these areas than any other, for obvious reasons, because of the huge impact on California.

Mr. SIMON. My second amendment simply says--and I will just read it: The requirements of subsection (a)-- That is deportation.-- Shall not apply with respect to any alien who has been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence and who since the date of such lawful admission has become blind or disabled, as those terms are defined in the Social Security Act. This amendment, I would add, is supported by State and local governments. I think there is consensus that while you may want to deport people who are taking advantage of welfare generally, someone who has become totally disabled is in a very different kind of situation. This exempts them from deeming, not deportation. Again, our colleague from Wyoming is not here, so I would ask unanimous consent that it also be set aside while we proceed to vote on the other amendments.

Mr. SIMON

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, these amendments are acceptable on our side. We support them.

Mr. SIMON. I will be pleased to yield.

Mr. SIMON. Reserving the right to object, will the Senator make it 4:53, so I can get 3 minutes in here?

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I will try to be more brief than the 3 minutes. I think so much of this makes sense. People who are here legally should get the same services as those who are here illegally. What I particularly want to point out is the higher education provision really would devastate many campuses and the future of many young people. People who came here legally, whose children are going to American colleges and universities taking advantage of our programs in terms of loans and other programs, we ought to be encouraging that higher education rather than discouraging it. The Kennedy amendments, it seems to me, move in the right direction. Finally, to protect pregnant women and children, I think that is kind of basic. So I strongly support the Kennedy amendments. Mr. SIMPSON addressed the Chair.

Mr. SIMON. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, may I inquire of the Senator from Wyoming-- and I am sorry; I was off the floor for a short time--are we moving toward any kind of time agreement to stack the votes tomorrow morning or something like that?

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I should like to call up 3809. It has already been offered but it was set aside.

Mr. SIMON. What this does is to change the basis for deportation from the Senate language to the House language. The Senate language, frankly, is so wide open in terms of deporting people. For example, someone who is a legal immigrant, who receives higher education assistance, or, Mr. President, someone in the State of Minnesota who would not be aware of it and got job training assistance under this amendment, unless it is changed, that person could be deported for getting job training assistance--someone who is here legally, going to become a citizen. I just do not think that makes sense. If they have a child who gets Head Start, that can be a basis. So what we ought to do is do as the House did. Frankly, that is still pretty sweeping. AFDC, SSI--and the SSI program is the one that is abused. I think all of us who have been working in this area know this is the area of great abuse. Overall, those who come into our country who are not yet citizens use our welfare programs less than native-born Americans percentagewise. But limited to AFDC, SSI, food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and State cash assistance. This is the language on the House side. I think it makes just an awful lot more sense. If someone, for example, gets low-income energy assistance in the State of Minnesota, that would be a basis for deportation the way the bill reads right now. I do not think you want that. I do not think most Members of the Senate want that. So that is what my amendment does. I think it makes the legislation a little more sensible, and I hope that my colleague, who is, I see, scribbling very vigorously over there, is scribbling the word ``OK'' and that he would consider accepting this amendment. Mr. SIMPSON addressed the Chair.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the Senator from Wyoming is correct. It was not ``OK,'' he was scribbling there. We do not do anything about the deeming requirements here. What we are simply saying--and I would add the administration supports this amendment--what we are simply saying is that there are going to be programs that people may be taking advantage of, that are available, with no knowledge it could be a basis of deportation. Let me give an example. In rural Illinois--my guess is in rural Minnesota, rural Massachusetts and Wyoming too--there are transportation programs available for the elderly and the disabled. Under this amendment, if someone takes advantage of those programs for 1 year, that is a basis for deportation. That is crazy. You know, if you have a child in Head Start you can be deported. Maybe a spouse abuses someone and they go to legal aid. If they get legal aid they can be kicked out of the country, for getting legal aid. I just think we have to be reasonable. I think the House language takes care of the big program. I know my friend from Wyoming agrees on this, the big program of abuse overwhelmingly is SSI. In addition to SSI, it has AFDC, food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and State cash assistance. I think this amendment makes sense. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SIMON. The Senator from Massachusetts is absolutely correct. These people are preparing themselves to be productive citizens and all of a sudden, because they are preparing themselves, they can be deported. If they are under a JTPA program they can be deported.

Mr. SIMON. That is correct. And it just makes no sense whatsoever. The sponsors may very well have had a medically devastating problem that just wiped them out. So the person who is here legally is eligible for these programs and we ought to be assisting them. Here, let me just remind everyone again, legal immigrants take advantage of these programs, with the exception of SSI, less, as a percentage of the people, than native-born Americans. So I would hope we would use some common sense here and accept this amendment.

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I do not want to postpone this much longer. Let us just say Christopher Reeve was a sponsor, and he went through this devastating accident. Let us say the people he sponsored live in Oklahoma in a rural community and they take advantage of transportation for the elderly and the disabled. Under this proposal, without my amendment, they can be deported. I do not think that is what the American people want. I do not think that is what the U.S. Senate wants. I really do not believe even my good friend, Alan Simpson, wants that, upon greater reflection. I hope we will conform the language to the way it is in the House and say on the six programs--AFDC, SSI, food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and State cash assistance--if they take advantage of these programs for a year, then they can be deported. That is even harsher, frankly, than I would like, because I think there will be some circumstances that are unusual. To just say sweepingly for any kind of Federal program you can be deported, like the Stafford Loan Program, I think is a real mistake. I hope the Senate will accept my amendment.

Mr. SIMON. Whatever. We can bring it up tonight. It should be debated very briefly.

Mr. SIMON. This is an amendment, my colleagues, that conforms the Senate bill to the House bill for the basis of deportation. Under the language that is now in the bill, without this amendment, any kind of Federal assistance may be a basis for deportation if you receive it for 1 year. For example, a student who would get a student loan, where the sponsor either had to have gone bankrupt or did not have the income, together with the income of the family that came in, that would be a basis for deportation. If in rural Kentucky or Illinois someone got rural transportation for elderly and the disabled, that would be a basis for deportation. That just does not make sense. We keep the AFDC, SSI, food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and State cash assistance. If you get any of those for 1 year, you can be deported, but not any general Federal program. Mr. SIMPSON addressed the Chair.

Mr. SIMON

Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.