[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A MORE BALANCED IMMIGRATION BILL

 Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, as we move toward adjournment, I 
wish to comment on the recently passed illegal immigration reform bill. 
I also wish to commend everyone who helped hammer out the compromise 
that was incorporated into H.R. 4278, the Omnibus Consolidated 
Appropriations bill.
  The resulting compromise properly shifted the focus from penalizing 
those legally admitted to this country to those who illegally cross our 
borders. The conference report, as passed by the House of 
Representatives last week, would have severely restricted benefit 
eligibility for legal permanent residents and other lawfully admitted 
immigrants. Legal residents--people who contribute to our society by 
working hard, paying taxes, serving in our Nation's Armed Forces, and 
observing all laws to remain in the United States--would have been 
ineligible for most Federally funded public assistance based on income.
  The resulting compromise eliminates deeming provisions that would 
have restricted the ability of legal immigrants to receive federal 
benefits during their first 5 years in the United States. Moreover, it 
dropped provisions mandating deportation or denial of naturalized 
status to immigrants who accept Federal benefits during a 12-month 
period over 7 years.
  These are significant changes which soften the newly enacted welfare 
reform bill that bars legal resident aliens from receiving a number of 
Federal benefits.
  The House-passed conference agreement also called for establishing 
income standards for the sponsorship by U.S. citizens of family members 
that were unrealistically high and would have had a deleterious effect 
on family reunification--a long-standing goal of U.S. immigration 
policy. The conference agreement numbers would have kept sponsorship of 
immediate family members out of the reach of many hard-working, tax-
paying families. Under the compromise, sponsors of immigrant relatives 
must now earn a minimum of 125 percent of the Federal poverty level. 
This is a more realistic standard that will assist low-income wage 
earners in reuniting with their family members.
  I voted for the Senate immigration reform bill in May, not because I 
thought it was perfect, but because it addressed the issue of illegal 
immigration. I was hopeful that the House and Senate bills could be 
negotiated in a bipartisan fashion so that Congress could enact 
meaningful immigration reform. During the conference, Democrats were 
excluded from the process. The results, Mr. President, were 
predictable.
  The Congress does not represent only one opinion. We must be willing 
and able to compromise, to hear one another's concerns, and find 
solutions that will not harm our citizens and legal immigrants. 
Congress was on the verge of enacting legislation that would have 
created a second-class citizenship for legal immigrants. I am pleased 
that we were able to avert action that would have unfairly treated 
those legally admitted to this country, threatened to close the door on 
refugees fleeing persecution, and denied working Americans the right to 
be reunited with their families.

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