[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1916]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HARSH NEW WELFARE LAW

  (Mr. GUTIERREZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, in 94 days the new welfare law will rip 
apart the social safety net for hundreds of thousands of elderly, 
disabled, and vulnerable legal immigrants. But today, consider one such 
immigrant, just one, a woman in my district in Chicago.
  Sophia is a 91-year-old Polish immigrant. She is in poor health and 
has little means of support besides her supplemental Social Security. 
During World War II, Sophia, then still in Poland, hid as many as a 
dozen Jews in her home, saved them from certain death at the hands of 
the Nazis.
  Because of her compassion and courage, Sophia received a unique 
distinction from the Government of Israel. She received and was 
recognized as a righteous person because she had given others the 
chance to survive. Now Sophia has received a notice from our Government 
telling her that she is unworthy of Federal assistance, cutting off her 
only means of survival.
  We have 94 days to restore benefits to legal immigrants like Sophia, 
to restore a sense of fairness and logic to the welfare debate, to 
restore the principles of compassion and justice. America should be 
proud to have immigrants like Sophia and ashamed of our harsh new 
welfare law.

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