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90_SR0083
SRS90SR0010DLbm
1 SENATE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The federal government enacted the Personal
3 Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
4 1996 (P.L. 104-193) which made sweeping changes to the
5 nation's welfare system; and
6 WHEREAS, The federal law emphasizes temporary assistance
7 to needy families, places time-limits on assistance, promotes
8 self-sufficiency and requires and rewards work achievement;
9 and
10 WHEREAS, The federal welfare reform bill ended federal
11 food stamps benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
12 benefits for an estimated 1.2 million non citizen residents
13 nation-wide who had previously before been eligible for those
14 benefits and most immigrant families live in six states -
15 Illinois, Florida, California, New Jersey, New York and
16 Texas; and
17 WHEREAS, Congress projected that the passage of the
18 federal welfare bill would save the federal government $53.4
19 Billion; and
20 WHEREAS, Forty-four percent of that savings comes from
21 denying federal food stamp and SSI benefits to non-citizen
22 residents; and
23 WHEREAS, The federal government is block granting welfare
24 dollars to the states and requiring states to design their
25 own welfare system; and
26 WHEREAS, The federal government pushed their
27 responsibility for 1.2 million legal non-citizen residents
28 onto the already over burdened and financially strapped state
29 welfare systems; and
30 WHEREAS, It is projected that 33,000 non-citizen
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1 residents in Illinois will lose federal SSI and food stamp
2 benefits as a result of the enactment of P.L. 104-193; and
3 WHEREAS, The federal government has not allocated any
4 additional funds to the states to help the states alleviate
5 the burden caused by the federal welfare cuts; and
6 WHEREAS, Illinois is already spending $111.5 million to
7 provide Temporary Assistance Needy Families and Medicaid
8 benefits to federally qualified non-citizens; and
9 WHEREAS, the United States Congress is currently drafting
10 a budget proposal for the next Fiscal Year and in that budget
11 proposal, Congress had indicated only a minimal interest in
12 providing essential funding for legal non-citizens; and
13 WHEREAS, the federal government must be held accountable
14 for their actions taken to eliminate federal food stamp and
15 SSI benefits to 33,000 Illinois immigrants; therefore be it
16 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
17 OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, That the Illinois General Assembly
18 strongly urges the United States Congress and the President
19 of the United States to immediately restore federal funding
20 and eligibility for Supplemental Security Income and food
21 stamp benefits for legal non-citizen residents; and be it
22 further
23 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
24 immediately forwarded to the members of the Illinois
25 Congressional Delegation, the Speaker of the United States
26 House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United
27 States Senate, and the President of the United States.