[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S2077]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           UNFUNDED MANDATES

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, last week the Senate approved landmark 
legislation to protect States and communities from unfunded Federal 
mandates, and yesterday, the House followed suit. When the President 
signs this legislation, we will witness a sea change in the 
relationship among Federal, State, and local government.
  Let me remind my colleagues, however, that when we consider the 
staggering load of unfunded mandates the Federal Government imposes on 
State and local governments, southern border States such as Texas bear 
a huge share of the burden.
  Last year, I asked Congress to allocate $350 million to the affected 
States for incarcerating illegal alien felons. Congress took a 
significant step in rectifying this situation when it appropriated $130 
million for the purpose. This was the first time in history the Federal 
Government has ever acknowledged its fiscal obligation to States 
directly impacted by Federal policies--and failures.
  But that appropriation was merely an initial installment on what is 
actually a huge, crippling debt incurred by the Federal Government.
  This year I am calling on President Clinton to include that $350 
million allocation in his budget proposal--to move closer toward 
Federal acknowledgment of the true magnitude of the costs of illegal 
immigration to this country.
  Illegal aliens, who enter our States and take up permanent, unlawful 
residence, are there as a result of the Federal Government's failure to 
carry out one of its most important functions--the securing of our 
borders. Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and even Florida, 
absorb the brunt of these costs.
  My State and others similarly affected are required by Federal law 
and Federal courts to pay for incarcerating illegals who commit crimes 
and also for the costs of education, welfare, medical services, and a 
host of other government-funded programs serving illegal aliens.
  The Federal Government underwrites very little of these expenditures. 
But under the threat of penalty imposed by Federal law State and local 
taxpayers are coerced into footing the bill.
  Texas, alone, must spend more than $60 million a year to keep illegal 
alien felons in prison--California nearly $400 million.
  Texas also spends more than $60 million annually on unreimbursed 
Medicaid services to illegal aliens.
  Texas like other States--is experiencing a seemingly insoluble school 
funding crisis, due in part to the presence of illegal alien children 
which the Federal courts have ruled must be educated.
  In several Texas school districts, close to 50 percent of the 
students enrolled are the children of illegal aliens. In some cases, 
children cross the border from Mexico every day to attend school in 
Texas.
  In La Joya, a small lower Rio Grande Valley town near Brownsville, a 
third of the school district's enrollment comes from Mexico. Yet school 
officials are forbidden to ask students for proof of residency--in 
their school district.
  A study by Rice University in Houston estimates that Texas pays, all 
told, $1.4 billion a year to provide federally mandated services to 
illegal immigrants.
  This is $1.4 billion a year we do not have, or, if we did, could be 
put to better use for Texas taxpayers.
  For instance, that $1.4 billion would more than make up for the 
funding shortfall in Texas schools.
  The situation has become intolerable--and resulted unfortunately in a 
backlash against all immigrants such as we witnessed in California 
during the debate over proposition 187. I am thankful the situation in 
Texas has not yet reached this point.
  But the unfunded mandates situation has reached the crisis stage in 
its impact on our State and local budgets.
  To put it plainly, the Federal Government is shifting the 
responsibility for these mandated expenditures onto the backs of Texas 
taxpayers. Texans are being forced to provide social benefits to 
individuals who have broken our laws, jumping ahead of those who play 
by the rules--while the Federal Government looks the other way. Illegal 
immigrants ought not be entitled to State taxpayers' money for simply 
crossing the border--and breaking our laws in the process.
  In the past, I have supported the assignment of more Border Patrol 
agents to make our border areas more secure. The immigration reform 
bill I introduced in the 103d Congress would have put 6,000 more agents 
in the field to stop this flagrant and habitual violation of U.S. law.
  Now my colleague, Senator Gramm, has introduced another illegal 
immigration bill which would put even more new agents on the border, 
realizing that we are going to have to get serious about stopping the 
influx of people who are illegal into out country.
  One of the reasons I am a strong advocate of the unfunded mandate 
legislation is that it will enforce a kind of truth-in-lawmaking we 
have not seen in Washington for decades--putting a clear price tag on 
programs and policies when they are foisted onto the States.
  This correction in our country's course is long overdue.
  

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