[ Back ] [ Bottom ]
90_SR0083enr
90SR0083 Enrolled
1 STATE OF ILLINOIS
2 NINETIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
3 SENATE
4 Senate Resolution No. 83
5 Offered by Senators Syverson, Radogno, Karpiel,
6 T. Walsh, Parker, Burzynski, Myers, Petka,
7 Fitzgerald and Rauschenberger
8 WHEREAS, The federal government enacted the Personal
9 Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
10 1996 (P.L. 104-193) which made sweeping changes to the
11 nation's welfare system; and
12 WHEREAS, The federal law emphasizes temporary
13 assistance to needy families, places time-limits on
14 assistance, promotes self-sufficiency and requires and
15 rewards work achievement; and
16 WHEREAS, The federal welfare reform bill ended
17 federal food stamps benefits and Supplemental Security Income
18 (SSI) benefits for an estimated 1.2 million non-citizen
19 residents nationwide who had previously before been eligible
20 for those benefits and most immigrant families live in six
21 states - Illinois, Florida, California, New Jersey, New York
22 and Texas; and
23 WHEREAS, Congress projected that the passage of the
24 federal welfare bill would save the federal government $53.4
25 Billion; and
26 WHEREAS, Forty-four percent of that savings comes
27 from denying federal food stamp and SSI benefits to
28 non-citizen residents; and
29 WHEREAS, The federal government is block granting
30 welfare dollars to the states and requiring states to design
31 their own welfare system; and
32 WHEREAS, The federal government pushed their
33 responsibility for 1.2 million legal non-citizen residents
90SR0083 Enrolled -2-
1 onto the already overburdened and financially strapped state
2 welfare systems; and
3 WHEREAS, It is projected that 33,000 non-citizen
4 residents in Illinois will lose federal SSI and food stamp
5 benefits as a result of the enactment of P.L. 104-193; and
6 WHEREAS, The federal government has not allocated any
7 additional funds to the states to help the states alleviate
8 the burden caused by the federal welfare cuts; and
9 WHEREAS, Illinois is already spending $111.5 million
10 to provide Temporary Assistance Needy Families and Medicaid
11 benefits to federally qualified non-citizens; and
12 WHEREAS, The United States Congress is currently
13 drafting a budget proposal for the next Fiscal Year and in
14 that budget proposal Congress had indicated only a minimal
15 interest in providing essential funding for legal
16 non-citizens; and
17 WHEREAS, The federal government must be held
18 accountable for their actions taken to eliminate federal food
19 stamp and SSI benefits to 33,000 Illinois immigrants;
20 therefore, be it
21 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETIETH GENERAL
22 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Illinois State
23 Senate strongly urges the United States Congress and the
24 President of the United States to immediately restore federal
25 funding and eligibility for Supplemental Security Income and
26 food stamp benefits for legal non-citizen residents; and be
27 it further
28 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
29 immediately forwarded to the members of the Illinois
30 Congressional Delegation, the Speaker of the United States
31 House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United
90SR0083 Enrolled -3-
1 States Senate, and the President of the United States.
2 Adopted by the Senate, June 1, 1997.
[ Top ]