[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 158 (Thursday, October 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9899-H9900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INS CASHING THE CHECKS AND NOT PROVIDING THE SERVICE

  (Mr. GUTIERREZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, how would you feel if you walked into a 
McDonalds, paid $5 for your Big Mac, fries, and a Coke, and were told, 
``Thanks for your money. We'll give you your food in a year or so.''
  Would you say, ``No problem, I'll wait.'' No; you would say that is 
outrageous, unacceptable, scandalous.
  Well, today the Immigration and Naturalization Service is currently 
saying to every citizenship applicant, ``Thanks for your $95 
application fee. Now wait 16 months and we will see if we get to you.''
  The are taking the money. The are cashing the check. They just are 
not providing the service. Let us be clear, at a time when some Members 
of Congress want to deny basic Government services to permanent 
residents, this delay is not merely an inconvenience, it is a threat to 
the very services many people rely on every day.
  We have tried to make clear to the INS how urgent this crisis is. No 
luck. Maybe they do not understand English.
  Ustedes han tomado nuestro dinero. Ahora, cumplan su promesa. Hagan 
su trabajo.
  !Hagan a nuestra gente ciudadanos!
  
[[Page H 9900]]


         EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT GETS PORKER OF THE WEEK AWARD

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, the earned income tax credit [EITC], is 
designed to help workers not poor enough for welfare, and may have been 
a good idea at first, but it has turned into a bureaucracy out of 
control.
  In hearings last year, both the Treasury secretary and the IRS 
Commissioner admitted that the fraud and overpayment rate in the $20 
billion program could be as high as 45 percent. Get that: $9 billion in 
waste. It should come as no surprise that the IRS actually made the 
problem worse.
  The agency's 1992 experiment that gave about $400 million in EITC 
benefits to those who had not applied but seemed entitled only created 
a monster: $175 million of erroneous payments. Part of it was poorly 
recorded paperwork. After all, 90 percent of the benefit checks, up to 
$2,500 each, go to those who pay no income taxes in the first place--
including illegal aliens and prisoners.
  For wasting money through a nearsighted bureaucracy, the earned 
income tax credit get my Porker of the Week Award.

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