[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4067-S4068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND RESCISSIONS ACT OF 1997

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.


                           Amendment No. 145

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question recurs on amendment No. 145 by 
the Senator from New York.
  There are 5 minutes equally divided.
  Who yields time?
  Mr. D'AMATO addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator 
Graham of Florida, Senator Wyden, and Senator Lautenberg be added as 
cosponsors.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, make no mistake about it, I support the 
provisions that have broken the chain of

[[Page S4068]]

welfare dependency, welfare that became a narcotic, and it trapped 
people. I think that our reform of the welfare system was good, 
intended and long overdue.
  However, there have been some unintended consequences that are 
devastating. I do not believe we ever wanted to take 500,000 basically 
senior citizens and say that ``you're going to be cut off,'' senior 
citizens who are here in this country legally, receiving SSI benefits, 
who abided by the rules, and now simply terminate them.
  Let me give you a profile of these legal immigrants who received 
their notice of termination. Seventy-two percent of them are women. 
They are over the age of 65. Forty-one percent of them are over the age 
of 75. And almost 20 percent, or close to 100,000, are over the age of 
85.
  Are we really going to say that we are going to take close to these 
senior citizens, the vast bulk of them women, who have infirmities, who 
have problems with the language, and say, ``Come August 22, you are off 
the roll notwithstanding that you came here legally, notwithstanding 
that you met all of the requirements''?
  What our amendment does is simply say we are giving, to October 1, 
the continuation of assistance. And, hopefully, many of these people 
who have these infirmities will be able to qualify as citizens. It will 
give us additional time to deal with what otherwise would be a 
catastrophe for many of these people.
  Mr. President, young, able-bodied recipients should be required to 
report to a job. They should be challenged. There should not be an 
automatic pass to welfare assistance. But certainly not the aged, the 
infirmed, those who need help.
  We are a country of compassion. That is why I urge my colleagues to 
support this amendment, which is sensible.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Who yields time in opposition?
  The time will run.
  The time allocated has expired.
  The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 145.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 11, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 58 Leg.]

                                YEAS--89

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Grams
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kempthorne
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--11

     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Coats
     Enzi
     Faircloth
     Gramm
     Gregg
     Inhofe
     Nickles
     Smith (NH)
     Thomas
  The amendment (No. 145) was agreed to.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. McCAIN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, we had 5 minutes before that vote. I ask 
unanimous consent that there be 1 more minute added so that we have 4 
minutes on this one.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. STEVENS. I yield 1 minute to the Senator from New York. I think 
every Senator would like to hear the Senator from New York on this one.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York is recognized.

                          ____________________