118 HR 4170 IH: Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration Act
U.S. House of Representatives
2023-06-15
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I
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4170
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 15, 2023
Ms. Jayapal (for herself, Mr. Cárdenas, Ms. Adams, Mr. Auchincloss, Ms. Barragán, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Carson, Mr. Casar, Mr. Casten, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Correa, Mr. Crow, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DelBene, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Foushee, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Robert Garcia of California, Mr. García of Illinois, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Ivey, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Norton, Ms. Omar, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Payne, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Porter, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sánchez, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Soto, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Torres of New York, Mrs. Torres of California, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Trone, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Velázquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Phillips, and Mr. Pascrell) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, the Judiciary, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide certain benefits to noncitizens, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration Act” or the “LIFT the BAR Act”.
2.

Availability of basic assistance to lawfully present noncitizens
(a)

Elimination of arbitrary eligibility restrictions
Sections 402, 403, 411, 412, 421, and 422 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1612, 1613, 1621, 1622, 1631, and 1632) are repealed.
(b)

Notification and information reporting
Section 404 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1614) is amended by striking “, 402, or 403”.
(c)

Qualified noncitizens
Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended—
(1)
in the header, by striking “Aliens” and inserting “Noncitizens”;
(2)
by striking “alien” each place it appears and inserting “noncitizen”;
(3)
by striking “aliens” each place it appears and inserting “noncitizens”;
(4)
by striking “alien’s” each place it appears and inserting “noncitizen’s”;
(5)
by striking “an alien” each place that it appears and inserting “a noncitizen”;
(6)
by striking “alien” each place that it appears and inserting “noncitizen”;
(7)
by striking “qualified alien” each place that it appears and inserting “qualified noncitizen”;
(8)
by striking “qualified aliens” each place that it appears and inserting “qualified noncitizens”;
(9)
by striking “qualified alien’s” each place that it appears and inserting “qualified noncitizen’s”;
(10)
in section 402—
(A)
in the header, by striking “Qualified Aliens” and inserting “Qualified Noncitizens”; and
(B)
in subsection (a)(2)(L), by striking “qualified aliens” and inserting “qualified noncitizens”;
(11)
in section 403, in the header, by striking “Qualified Aliens” and inserting “Qualified Noncitizens”;
(12)
in section 411, in the header, by striking “Qualified Aliens” and inserting “Qualified Noncitizens”; and
(13)
in section 412, in the header, by striking “Qualified Aliens” and inserting “Qualified Noncitizens”.
(d)

Access to basic services for lawfully residing noncitizens
Section 431 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (b)—
(A)
in the header, by striking “qualified alien” and inserting “qualified noncitizen”;
(B)
by striking “alien” and inserting “noncitizen”;
(C)
by striking “an alien” and inserting “a noncitizen”; and
(D)
by striking “benefit” and all that follows through the period at the end of the subsection and inserting “benefit, is lawfully present in the United States.”;
(2)
in subsection (c)—
(A)
in the header, by striking “qualified aliens” and inserting “qualified noncitizens”;
(B)
by striking “; or” at the end of paragraph (3) and inserting “;”;
(C)
by striking the period at the end of paragraph (4) and inserting “; or”; and
(D)
by inserting after paragraph (4):
“(5)
a noncitizen—
(A)
in a category that was treated as lawfully present for purposes of section 1101 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 18001);
(B)
who met the requirements of section 402(a)(2)(D) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1612(a)(2)(D)) on or before January 1, 2021;
(C)
who is granted special immigrant juvenile status as described by section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J));
(D)
who has a pending, bona fide application for nonimmigrant status under section 101(a)(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C 1101(1)(15)(U));
(E)
who was granted relief under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; or
(F)
any other person who is not a citizen of the United States but who resides in a State or territory of the United States and is federally authorized to be present in the United States.”; and
(3)
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(d)

Noncitizen
For the purposes of this title, the term “noncitizen” means any individual who is not a citizen of the United States.”.
(e)

Child nutrition programs
Section 742 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1615) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (a)—
(A)
in the header by striking “School lunch and breakfast programs” and inserting “Child nutrition programs”;
(B)
by striking “the school lunch program” and inserting “any program”; and
(C)
by striking “the school breakfast program under section 4 of the” and inserting “any program under”; and
(2)
in subsection (b)(1)—
(A)
by striking “Nothing in this Act shall prohibit or require a State to provide to an individual who is not a citizen or a qualified alien, as defined in section 431(b),” and inserting “A State shall not deny”; and
(B)
by striking “paragraph (2)” and inserting “paragraph (2) on the basis of an individual’s citizenship or immigration status”.
(f)

Exclusion of medical assistance expenditures for citizens of freely associated States
Section 1108(h) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1308(h)) is amended—
(1)
by striking “Expenditures” and inserting:
“(1)
Expenditures”; and
(2)
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(2)
With respect to eligibility for benefits for the designated Federal program defined in paragraph (3)(C) (relating to the Medicaid program), paragraph (1) shall not apply to any individual who lawfully resides in 1 of the 50 States or the District of Columbia in accordance with the Compacts of Free Association between the Government of the United States and the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau and shall not apply, at the option of the Governor of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa as communicated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services in writing, to any individual who lawfully resides in the respective territory in accordance with such Compacts.”.
(g)

Child health insurance program
Section 2107(e)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397gg(e)(1)) is amended—
(1)
by striking subparagraph (O); and
(2)
by redesignating subparagraphs (P), (Q), (R), (S), (T), and (U) as subparagraphs (O), (P), (Q), (R), (S), and (T).
(h)

Conforming amendments
(1)

Supplemental food assistance program
The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) is amended—
(A)
in section 5—
(i)
by striking subsection (i); and
(ii)
by redesignating subsections (j) through (n) as subsections (i) through (m), respectively;
(B)
in section 6—
(i)
in subsection (f), by striking “an alien lawfully admitted for permanent” and all that follows through the end of the subsection and inserting “a noncitizen lawfully present in the United States.”; and
(ii)
in subsection (s)(2), by striking “(m), and (n)” and inserting “and (m)”; and
(C)
in section 11(e)(2)(B)(v)(II) by striking “aliens” each place it appears and inserting “noncitizens”.
(2)

Medicaid
Section 1903(v) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b(v)) is amended—
(A)
in paragraph (1), by striking “admitted for” and all that follows through the end of the paragraph and inserting “present in the United States.”; and
(B)
striking paragraph (4).
(3)

Housing assistance
Section 214(a) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 1436a(a)) is amended by—
(A)
redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively; and
(B)
inserting after paragraph (5):
“(6)
a qualified noncitizen as defined in section 431 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641);”.
(4)

General rule on noncitizens’ eligibility
Section 401 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611) is amended—
(A)
in the header—
(i)
by striking “Qualified Aliens” and inserting “Qualified Noncitizens”; and
(ii)
by striking “Aliens” and inserting “Noncitizens”; and
(B)
by striking “alien” each place it appears and inserting “noncitizen”.
(5)

Assistance not treated as debt absent fraud
Section 213A(b)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by striking “benefit,” and inserting “benefit by fraud,”.
(i)

Preserving access to health care
Section 36B(c)(1)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
“(B)

Special rule for certain individuals lawfully present in the United States
If—
(i)
a taxpayer has a household income which is not greater than 100 percent of an amount equal to the poverty line for a family of the size involved,
(ii)
the taxpayer is a non-citizen lawfully present in the United States,
(iii)
the taxpayer is ineligible for minimum essential coverage under section 5000A(f)(1)(A)(ii), and
(iv)
under the Medicaid eligibility criteria for non-citizens in effect on December 26, 2020, the taxpayer would be ineligible for such minimum essential coverage by reason of the taxpayer’s immigration status,
the taxpayer shall, for purposes of the credit under this section, be treated as an applicable taxpayer with a household income which is equal to 100 percent of the poverty line for a family of the size involved.”.
(j)

Federal agency guidance
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, each Federal agency, as applicable, shall issue guidance with respect to implementing the amendments made by this Act.
(k)

Effective date
The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act and shall apply to services furnished on or after the date that is 180 days after the date on which any guidance is issued pursuant to subsection (i).