[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5182-S5183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        FUGITIVE WELFARE REFORM

  Mr. SANTORUM. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise to discuss the issue 
of a bill I introduced recently that I understand is going to be 
highlighted tonight on a Dateline/NBC telecast having to deal with the 
issue of fugitives--felons--who are not only running from the law, but 
under the law receiving welfare benefits, and under the law the police 
are not able to assert information from the welfare office to be able 
to help track this person down.
  Believe it or not, that is exactly the issue that we are going to 
discuss and hopefully be able to remedy. I got into this in the House. 
I was Chairman of the Task Force on Welfare in the House of 
Representatives and was presented with a whole lot of information about 
some of the problems in the welfare system, and worked extensively 
putting together the House welfare reform package in 1993 and 1994.
  This issue is while there have been a lot of partisanship with 
respect to the welfare issue and gnashing of teeth as to the mean-
spiritedness of the welfare proposals that have been put forward, this 
particular area of the welfare bill has attracted broad bipartisan 
support.
  When explained, most Americans--all Americans--support this kind of 
change. I have not heard of any organized opposition to the bill I 
introduced along with Representative Peter Blute from Massachusetts in 
the House or the one that was introduced here in the Senate.
  The House of Representatives, in the welfare reform debate, debated 
this issue on the floor and it passed, I believe, unanimously on the 
floor of the House.
  The bill now comes to the Senate as an amendment to the House welfare 
reform bill. Whether we bring it up, I hope this issue can be 
addressed, because I think it is important in not only reducing welfare 
fraud--and this is clearly welfare fraud--but also facilitating police 
operations in tracking down wanted criminals.
  We know from the National Crime Information Center there are roughly 
400,000 outstanding fugitive warrants in this country. As I say, 
believe it or not, a sizable portion of those fugitives are on welfare 
receiving food stamps or AFDC or some other welfare assistance, Federal 
welfare assistance. SSI is a big one, where they receive assistance 
from the Federal Government to help support their lifestyle while 
hiding from law enforcement authorities.
  That is bad enough, but under current, law Federal and State law, law 
enforcement authorities are not able to contact the welfare offices to 
assert any information about this fugitive. Why? Because of welfare 
privacy laws. If a person gets on welfare they can collect their check, 
collect their benefits, and be completely immune from anybody ever 
finding out that they are on the welfare rolls. This is almost 
unbelievable. But that is, in fact, the case.
  Now people may say, how many people are on this? Is this really a 
problem or is this an isolated case?
  Let me first give Members the case. The case that really brought this 
to my attention was an article in the July 29, 1994, Pittsburgh Tribune 
Review.
  I will read:

       Fugitive Used Real Name for Welfare

  James Brabham knew who he was. During a decade on the lam for a 1984 
slaying in Pittsburg, he used at least five aliases and five Social 
Security numbers.

       But when he went on welfare he used his real name--and his 
     State-issued welfare card bore his current address and photo.
       The cops who arrested him on Wednesday in Philadelphia saw 
     the card when they asked Brabham for identification. They 
     hadn't known he was on welfare.
       ``I'm sure it would have made things a lot easier,'' said 
     Detective Joe Hasara of the Federal Fugitive Task Force in 
     Philadelphia, one of the squads that for years pursued lead 
     after dead-end lead searching for Brabham.

  I went and met with the Federal Fugitive Task Force in Philadelphia. 
What they told me was absolutely amazing. They believe from the 90-some 
fugitives they have caught since 
[[Page S5183]] the task force has been put together the last couple of 
years that 75 percent of the people they have tracked down had welfare 
cards. Seventy-five percent. They have no way to go and find out the 
information about what their current address is, what their Social 
Security number is, or even a photograph.
  In Cleveland, the Fugitive Task Force ran a sting operation--one of 
these things where a person gets free things and they invite only 
certain people and they catch the folks who show up--33 percent of the 
people who showed up at this sting operation had welfare cards.
  Again, because of court decisions and the Welfare Privacy Act, they 
had no way of contacting or getting this information from the welfare 
office.
  People may say, ``OK, these folks have welfare cards. But how many of 
them use their real name?'' I asked that of the Philadelphia Fugitive 
Task Force. I said, ``How many use their real name?'' They laughed, and 
they said almost all of them use their real name and real Social 
Security number.
  I said, ``Well, why in the world would they do that?'' The answer is, 
because they do not want to lose their benefits. They do not want to be 
accused of a welfare problem, and they can get in trouble for a whole 
bunch of other things, so they use their real name and real Social 
Security number so they can get the benefits. It is a very good source 
of the true name and the true Social Security number of people who are 
on the lam.
  Now, what we have suggested in this legislation is to permit law 
enforcement agencies that have a fugitive warrant to be able to go to a 
welfare office and say ``Look, we would like to know if John Doe is in 
your file and, if so, we would like the address of John Doe, we would 
like the Social Security number of John Doe, and we would like a 
photograph of John Doe.''
  People wonder why we need a photograph. In the original legislation I 
proposed in the House, I did not have ``photograph.'' But the Fugitive 
Task Force in Philadelphia said this is very helpful information 
because a lot of times they have fugitives who are first-time felons, 
and they have absolutely no idea what they look like. So this gives a 
current picture to be able to track this person down. It is very 
helpful information.
  Now, again, this is a bipartisan bill. There is bipartisan 
sponsorship on the bill here. We hope that this is a measure that can 
sail through the House, whether we do a welfare reform package or not, 
and it passes again, this is something we can do to eliminate a welfare 
problem that we know is occurring.
  People who are fugitives are not permitted to be on welfare. Again, 
there is no way of checking that. And, number two, to give police 
officers the opportunity to track these people down and get better 
information.
  There is another part of the bill I will briefly discuss, and that is 
another situation we found out about from our hearings on welfare in 
the last couple of years, which is the definition of what ``temporarily 
absent'' is from a home.
  We have situations where we have parents who have children who are on 
AFDC, whose children end in jail for long periods of time, or run away 
from home for long periods of time, or are in detention, or a whole lot 
of other things, but they are out of the house.
  If they are out of the house for any period of time the welfare 
benefit that goes with the child--that is where most of the welfare 
cash goes and other benefits go--should cease to the mother or the 
parents--not necessarily the mother.
  There is no definition in most States as to what ``temporarily 
absent'' means, so we provide a definition of how long a child should 
be away from home to determine whether that person is temporarily 
absent, or in fact, permanently absent. It they are permanently absent, 
they lose their welfare benefits.
  We have seen situations where parents have collected welfare benefits 
literally for years when kids are in jail, and they keep collecting the 
money, because the State has never determined what ``temporarily 
absent'' means. That, we believe, is an abuse that can be stopped.
  Again, this provision had bipartisan support and we hope will be so 
supported here in the U.S. Senate.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  

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