II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 918

To prohibit the payment of certain Federal benefits to any person not lawfully

present within the United States, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 13 (legislative day, JUNE 5), 1995

Mr. EXON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To prohibit the payment of certain Federal benefits to any

person not lawfully present within the United States,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Illegal Alien Benefits

5 Prohibition Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON PAYMENT OF FEDERAL BENEFITS

7 TO CERTAIN PERSONS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi9 sion of law and except as provided in subsection (b), Fed10 eral benefits shall not be paid or provided to any person
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1 who is not a person lawfully present within the United

2 States.

3 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply

4 with respect to the following benefits:

5 (1) Emergency medical services under title XIX

6 of the Social Security Act.

7 (2) Short-term emergency disaster relief.

8 (3) Assistance or benefits under the National

9 School Lunch Act.

10 (4) Assistance or benefits under the Child Nu11 trition Act of 1966.

12 (5) Public health assistance for immunizations

13 with respect to immunizable diseases and for testing

14 and treatment for communicable diseases.

15 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act—

16 (1) FEDERAL BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘Federal

17 benefit’’ means—

18 (A) the issuance of any grant, contract,

19 loan, professional license, or commercial license

20 provided by an agency of the United States or

21 by appropriated funds of the United States; and

22 (B) any retirement, welfare, Social Secu23 rity, health, disability, veterans benefit, public

24 housing, education, food stamps, unemployment

25 benefit, or any other similar benefit for which
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1 payments or assistance are provided by an

2 agency of the United States or by appropriated

3 funds of the United States.

4 (2) VETERANS BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘veterans

5 benefit’’ means all benefits provided to veterans,

6 their families, or survivors by virtue of the service of

7 a veteran in the Armed Forces of the United States.

8 (3) PERSON LAWFULLY PRESENT WITHIN THE

9 UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘person lawfully

10 present within the United States’’ means a person

11 who, at the time the person applies for, receives, or

12 attempts to receive a Federal benefit, is a United

13 States citizen, a permanent resident alien, an asylee,

14 a refugee, a parolee, a national, or a national of the

15 United States for purposes of the immigration laws

16 of the United States (as defined in section

17 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act

18 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17)).

19 SEC. 3. STATE OBLIGATION.

20 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a State

21 that administers a program that provides a Federal bene22 fit (described in section 2(c)(1)) or provides State benefits

23 pursuant to such a program shall not be required to pro24 vide such benefit to a person who is not a person lawfully
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1 present within the United States through a State agency

2 or with appropriated funds of such State.

3 SEC. 4. VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen6 eral of the United States, after consultation with the Sec7 retary of Health and Human Services, shall promulgate

8 regulations requiring verification that a person applying

9 for a Federal benefit, including a benefit described in sec10 tion 2(b), is a person lawfully present within the United

11 States and is eligible to receive such benefit. Such regula12 tions shall, to the extent feasible, require that information

13 requested and exchanged be similar in form and manner

14 to information requested and exchanged under section

15 1137 of the Social Security Act.

16 (b) STATE COMPLIANCE.—Not later than 24 months

17 after the date the regulations described in subsection (a)

18 are adopted, a State that administers a program that pro19 vides a Federal benefit described in such subsection shall

20 have in effect a verification system that complies with the

21 regulations.

22 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

23 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

24 necessary to carry out the purpose of this section.

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