States have the option of continuing cash payments or services with their block grant money. Noncitizens who become citizens, those who have worked here for 10 years and veterans remain eligible for longer periods. The legislation denies newly arriving legal immigrants immediate access to most federal welfare programs. Yet here too there is some flexibility. For example, new immigrants cannot qualify for Medicaid, but states may waive that restriction after they have lived here five years.
New arrivals retain access to emergency medical care.
Restricting new arrivals' access to programs such as Medicaid is fair because they have paid little or nothing into the system. NCPA Vice President of Domestic Policy Merrill Matthews Jr. prepared this Brief Analysis. Roughly one child in seven is on Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Welfare reform opponents are trying to discredit reforms by claiming that recipients are pushing normal employees out of work, despite the fact that the federal law prohibits firing any worker and replacing him with a welfare recipient.