[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 24 (Monday, June 21, 1999)]
[Pages 1121-1122]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Proposed ``Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act 
of 1999''

June 16, 1999

    I am pleased that today a bipartisan group of Senators, led by 
Senators Chafee and McCain and including Senators Graham, Mack, 
Moynihan, and Jeffords, have taken an important step in ensuring health 
care coverage for children by introducing the ``Immigrant Children's 
Health Improvement Act of 1999.''
    When I signed the 1996 welfare reform law, I pledged to work toward 
reversing the unnecessary cuts in benefits to legal immigrants that had 
nothing to do with the goal of moving people from welfare to work. As 
part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the Agricultural Research 
Act of 1998, my administration worked with Congress to restore vital 
health, nutritional, and disability benefits to hundreds of thousands of 
vulnerable legal immigrants. Recognizing that more

[[Page 1122]]

needs to be done, my budget includes a $1.3 billion proposal to restore 
health care benefits to children and pregnant women, nutritional 
assistance to elderly individuals, and disability and health assistance 
to legal immigrants who become disabled after they arrive in the United 
States.
    The proposal introduced today, which is similar to the one in my 
budget, would provide health care coverage for over 55,000 children, 
allowing States to use Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance 
Program (CHIP) for pregnant women and children who are legal immigrants, 
regardless of when they came to the U.S. I look forward to working with 
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to enact this legislation 
to help many children lead healthier and more productive lives.