[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H813-H814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PRESIDENT CLINTON'S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH AND BORDER PROTECTION FOR 
                               CALIFORNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dreier] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I have taken this time to make some brief 
comments on the State of the Union Message last night to say first 
that, as I said earlier today, it was interesting to juxtapose the 
State of the Union Messages of the past to the State of the Union 
Message that we got last night.
  If we go back to the campaign of 1992, we heard a very strong message 
that came from candidate Bill Clinton. He promised to end welfare as we 
know it, balance the Federal budget, and in fact, bring about a 
reduction of the tax burden on working Americans, that middle class tax 
cut. Then, in the State of the Union Message in 1993, we obviously saw 
the message that ended up being the largest tax increase in American 
history. Then, 2 years ago, we saw right here in the well of the House 
a State of the Union Message in which the President held up a card, a 
card in which we were going to move ahead and see the Federal 
Government usurp control of one-seventh of our economy with a national 
health care plan.
  Then last night he said that the era of Big Government has come to an 
end, so I was gratified to see that shift, but if one looks at those 
speeches that have been delivered from the campaign of 1992 through the 
governance of the Clinton administration over the past 3 years to the 
speech that was delivered right behind me here last night, it is very 
interesting.
  One of the things in the speech that troubled me greatly was a 
statement that was made toward the end of his speech. I would like to 
share that, because it is something that concerns not only all of us 
from California, but from other parts of the country as well.
  The President said, ``but there are some areas that the Federal 
Government'' must address directly and strongly. One of these is the 
problem of illegal immigration. ``After years and years of neglect, 
this administration has taken a strong stand to stiffen the protection 
of our borders.''
  The thing that troubles me about that is that while it is great that 
the President said it, it is great that the President is proceeding 
with a focus on this issue, but over the past year, since we have seen 
a new majority come into this Congress, since we have seen the fine 
work of my colleague, the gentleman from California, Elton Gallegly, 
who chairs our task force on illegal immigration, since we have seen 
the Speaker's Task Force on California focus on the issue of illegal 
immigration as its number one priority, and thanks to the great work of 
people like the gentleman from Kentucky, Hal Rogers, and the chairman 
of the Committee on Appropriations, we have been able to move ahead 
with very important legislation that, tragically, the President has 
vetoed.
  I would like to share with my colleagues a letter which I have just 
sent today to the President, in which I say, ``I was greatly encouraged 
by your decision to include addressing illegal immigration as a 
national priority in Tuesday's State of the Union Address. However, in 
this light, I was dismayed by your veto record that has killed historic 
congressional proposals to combat illegal immigration and lift the 
burden of illegal immigration from States like California.''
  Those include, Mr. Speaker, providing $500 million to reimburse 
States for the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrant felons in State 
prisons, tripling prior year funding, and relieving California 
taxpayers of a $300 million burden that clearly is a Federal 
responsibility;

  Second, increasing funding for INS border control efforts by $300 
million, to add 1,000 Border Patrol agents and 400 support staff;

[[Page H814]]

  Third, establishing that illegal immigrants do not qualify for any 
Federal or State welfare programs;
  Fourth, prohibiting illegal immigrants from qualifying for taxpayer-
provided health care services;
  And finally, creating a new $3.5 billion Federal fund to assist 
hospitals with the cost of emergency health care to illegal immigrants, 
with $1.6 billion of that going to the State of California.
  Mr. Speaker, it was wonderful that the president would stand here and 
talk about this issue, but he has been given the opportunity to address 
those concerns that not only the people in that State, where 54 
electoral votes are held, but people around the country are concerned, 
and when he has been given that opportunity, he has chosen to bring out 
his veto pen and in fact slap the face of those who have been focusing 
on this issue.
  He opposed proposition 187 in California, which passed by an 
overwhelming landslide, people saying that the State of California 
should not be responsible for what is clearly a Federal issue. So it 
saddens me that while I am pleased that the statement was made, that 
the record of President Clinton on the issue of illegal immigration and 
the record of past congresses in the control of his party is that 
people have chosen to ignore this. In the past year, we have 
successfully stepped up to the plate to deal with it, and 
unfortunately, the President has chosen to veto it.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the letter of January 24, 1996, 
to which I referred:

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                        Office of the Speaker,

                                 Washington, DC, January 24, 1996.
     Task Force on California.
       Dear Mr. President: I was greatly encouraged by your 
     decision to include addressing illegal immigration as a 
     national priority in Tuesday's State of the Union Address. 
     However, in this light, I was dismayed by your veto record 
     that has killed historic congressional proposals to combat 
     illegal immigration and lift the burden of illegal 
     immigration from states like California. These proposals 
     include:
       Providing $500 million to reimburse states for the cost of 
     incarcerating illegal immigrant felons in state prisons, 
     tripling prior year funding and relieving California 
     taxpayers of a $300 million burden;
       Increasing funding for INS border control efforts by $300 
     million to add 1,000 border patrol agents and 400 inspectors;
       Establishing that illegal immigrants do not qualify for any 
     federal or state welfare programs;
       Prohibiting illegal immigrants from qualifying for 
     taxpayer-provided health care services; and
       Creating a new $3.5 billion federal fund to assist 
     hospitals with the cost of emergency health care to illegal 
     immigrants, with $1.6 billion targeted to California.
       While I was disappointed in 1994 when you chose to oppose 
     California's Proposition 187, which was overwhelmingly 
     supported by California citizens, it has been more 
     disheartening to see vetoed the California delegation's 
     efforts to implement federal policies to meet the goals of 
     Proposition 187. I look forward to working with you to see 
     each of these measures, as well as comprehensive immigration 
     reform, enacted this year.
           Sincerely,
                                                     David Dreier,
     Chairman.

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