379
vide that, in order to be eligible for assistance under
the State plan, an individual must be either—
‘‘(A) a citizen or national of the United
States, or
‘‘(B) a qualified alien (as defined in section
1145(a)), provided that such alien is not dis-
qualified from receiving assistance under a
State plan approved under this part by or pur-
suant to section 210(f) or 245A(h) of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act or any other provi-
sion of law;’’.
(B) SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME.—
Section 1614(a)(1)(B)(i) is amended to read as
follows:
‘‘(B)(i) is a resident of the United States,
and is either (I) a citizen or national of the
United States, or (II) a qualified alien (as de-
fined in section 1145(a)), or’’.
(C) MEDICAID.—
(i) Section 1903(v)(1) is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘(v)(1) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of
this section—
‘‘(A) no payment may be made to a State under
this section for medical assistance furnished to an
380
individual who is disqualified from receiving such as-
sistance by or pursuant to section 210(f) or 245A(h)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act or any other
provision of law, and
‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (2), no
such payment may be made for medical assistance
furnished to an individual who is not—
‘‘(i) a citizen or national of the United
States, or
‘‘(ii) a qualified alien (as defined in section
1145(a)).’’.
(ii) Section 1903(v)(2) is amended—
(I) by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’
and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1)(B)’’;
and
(II) by striking ‘‘alien’’ each
place it appears and inserting ‘‘indi-
vidual’’.
(iii) Section 1902(a) is amended in
the last sentence by striking ‘‘alien’’ and
all that follows and inserting ‘‘individual
who is not (A) a citizen or national of the
United States, or (B) a qualified alien (as
defined in section 1145(a)) only in accord-
ance with section 1903(v).’’.
381
(iv) Section 1902(b)(3) is amended by
inserting ‘‘or national’’ after ‘‘citizen’’.
(2) DEFINITION OF ‘‘QUALIFIED ALIEN’’.—Title
XI is amended by adding at the end the following
new section:
‘‘UNIFORM ALIEN ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR PUBLIC
ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
‘‘SEC. 1145. (a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of the
programs under part A of title IV and titles XVI and XIX
of this Act—
‘‘(1) QUALIFIED
ALIEN.—The term ‘qualified
alien’ means an alien—
‘‘(A) who is lawfully admitted for perma-
nent residence within the meaning of section
101(a)(20) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act;
‘‘(B) who is admitted as a refugee pursu-
ant to section 207 of such Act;
‘‘(C) who is granted asylum pursuant to
section 208 of such Act;
‘‘(D) who is a Cuban or Haitian entrant,
as defined in section 501(e) of the Refugee
Education Assistance Act of 1980 (Public Law
96–422);
382
‘‘(E) whose deportation is withheld pursu-
ant to section 243(h) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act;
‘‘(F) whose deportation is suspended pur-
suant to section 244 of such Act;
‘‘(G) who is granted conditional entry pur-
suant to section 203(a)(7) of such Act as in ef-
fect prior to April 1, 1980;
‘‘(H) who is lawfully admitted for tem-
porary residence pursuant to section 210 or
245A of such Act;
‘‘(I) who is paroled into the United States
under section 212(d)(5) of such Act for a pe-
riod of at least one year;
‘‘(J) who is within a class of aliens lawfully
present within the United States pursuant to
any other provision of such Act, provided
that—
‘‘(i) the Attorney General determines
(and such determination shall not be judi-
cially reviewable) that the continued pres-
ence of such class of aliens serves a hu-
manitarian or other compelling public in-
terest, and
383
‘‘(ii) the Secretary of Health and
Human Services and the Commissioner of
Social Security determine (and such deter-
mination shall not be judicially reviewable)
that such interest would be further served
by treating each alien within such class as
a ‘qualified alien’ for purposes of this Act;
or
‘‘(K) who is the spouse or unmarried child
under 21 years of age of a citizen of the United
States, or the parent of such a citizen if the cit-
izen is 21 years of age or older, and with re-
spect to whom an application for adjustment to
lawful permanent residence is pending;
such status not having changed.
‘‘(2) SPONSOR.—The term ‘sponsor’ means,
with respect to a qualified alien, an individual who—
‘‘(A) is a citizen or national of the United
States or an alien who is lawfully admitted to
the United States for permanent residence;
‘‘(B) is 18 years of age or over;
‘‘(C) is domiciled in any State, the District
of Columbia, or any territory or possession of
the United States; and
384
‘‘(D) has executed an affidavit of support
for such alien in accordance with section 213 of
the Immigration and Nationality Act.’’.
(3) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section
244A(f)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
is amended by inserting ‘‘and shall not be considered
to be a ‘qualified alien’ within the meaning of sec-
tion 1145(a) of the Social Security Act’’ immediately
before the semicolon.
(b) STATE AND LOCAL PROGRAMS.—A State, or a
political subdivision of a State, may provide that an alien
is not eligible for any program of cash assistance (other
than assistance related to pre-school, elementary, or sec-
ondary education) or medical assistance (other than emer-
gency medical assistance) based on need that is furnished
by such State or political subdivision unless such alien is
a ‘‘qualified alien’’ within the meaning of section 1145(a)
of the Social Security Act (as added by subsection (a)(2)
of this section).
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section are effective with respect to benefits furnished
on the basis of any application filed after the date of en-
actment of this Act.
385
SEC. 402. DEEMING OF SPONSOR’S INCOME AND RE-
SOURCES TO ALIEN UNDER TEA, SSI, AND
FOOD STAMP PROGRAMS.
(a) EXTENSION OF DEEMING PERIOD TO DATE OF
NATURALIZED CITIZENSHIP.—Section 1145 of the Social
Security Act, as added by section 401 of this Act, is
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(b) DEEMING OF INCOME TO SPONSORED ALIEN
UNTIL NATURALIZATION FOR PURPOSES OF CERTAIN AS-
SISTANCE PROGRAMS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided in this subsection, for purposes of the pro-
grams under titles IV–A and XVI and the program
under the Food Stamp Act of 1977, the income and
resources of the sponsor of a qualified alien, and of
the sponsor’s spouse, shall be deemed to be available
to such alien, in accordance with the applicable pro-
visions of each such program, until the date on
which the alien achieves United States citizenship
through naturalization pursuant to the Immigration
and Nationality Act.
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The income and resources
of a sponsor shall not be deemed available to a
qualified alien in the following circumstances:
386
‘‘(A) ELDERLY
ALIEN
AFTER
YEARS’
RESIDENCE.—The alien has been lawfully ad-
mitted to the United States for permanent resi-
dence, has attained 75 years of age, and has re-
sided in the United States for at least 5 years.
‘‘(B) ALIEN A VETERAN.—The alien—
‘‘(i) is a veteran (as defined in section
101 of title 38, United States Code) with
a discharge characterized as an honorable
discharge,
‘‘(ii) is on active duty (other than ac-
tive duty for training) in the Armed Forces
of the United States, or
‘‘(iii) is the spouse (other than a di-
vorced spouse), surviving spouse, or un-
married minor dependent child of an indi-
vidual described in clause (i) or (ii).
‘‘(C) Alien a taxpayer.—
‘‘(i) Taxes have been paid (as deter-
mined in accordance with clause (ii)) under
chapter 2 or chapter 21 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 for each of 20 dif-
ferent calendar quarters with respect to
the self-employment income or employment
of the alien, or spouse of the alien, or par-
387
ent of the alien (in the case of an alien
under age 25).
‘‘(ii) For purposes of clause (i), the
taxes described in such clause shall, in the
absence of any evidence to the contrary, be
assumed to have been paid with respect to
any wages and self-employment income for
which such alien, parent, or spouse has
been credited in the records maintained by
the Commissioner of Social Security for
purposes of the administration of the Fed-
eral Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability In-
surance program authorized by title II of
this Act.
‘‘(iii) The Social Security Administra-
tion, by regulation, shall provide a sim-
plified method for assigning an individual’s
annual earnings in a year to a given cal-
endar quarter. Earnings assigned to a
given calendar quarter are considered to be
acquired as of the first day of that quarter.
‘‘(D) ALIEN
WHOSE
SPONSOR
RECEIVES
TEA OR SSI BENEFITS.—The provisions of para-
graph (1) shall not apply to any alien for any
388
month for which such alien’s sponsor receives
any of the following benefits—
‘‘(i) temporary employment assistance
under part A of title IV;
‘‘(ii) supplemental security income
under title XVI; or
‘‘(iii) federally administered State
supplementary payments pursuant to sec-
tion 1616(a) of this Act or to section
212(b) of Public Law 93-66.
‘‘(E) FOOD
STAMPS
EXEMPTION
FOR
BLIND OR DISABLED ALIEN.—The provisions of
paragraph (1) shall not apply to the program
under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 with respect
to an alien for any month for which such alien
receives supplemental security income under
title XVI by reason of blindness (as determined
under section 1614(a)(2)) or disability (as de-
termined under section 1614(a)(3)), provided
that such blindness or disability commenced
after the date of such individual’s admission
into the United States for permanent residence.
‘‘(3) REGULATIONS PROVIDING FOR HARDSHIP
EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary of Health and Human
Services, the Commissioner of Social Security, and
389
the Secretary of Agriculture, after consultation to-
gether, may each promulgate regulations providing
for alteration or suspension of the application of
paragraph (1) in cases (including cases in which the
sponsored alien is the subject of domestic violence or
other abuse by the sponsor) where such application
to a qualified alien, for purposes of determining eli-
gibility for a program administered by such official,
would be inequitable in the circumstances.
‘‘(4) INAPPLICABILITY TO MEDICAID.—The pro-
visions of paragraph (1) shall be inapplicable to the
determination of the eligibility of a qualified alien
for benefits under title XIX.’’.
(b) AMENDMENTS TO PROGRAM STATUTES.—
(1) TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE.—
Section 415 of the Social Security Act is redesig-
nated as section 407, and is amended—
(A) in subsection (a)—
(i) by striking ‘‘an alien described in
clause (B) of section 402(a)(33)’’ and in-
serting ‘‘a qualified alien (as defined in
section 1145(a))’’; and
(ii) by striking ‘‘for a period of three
years after the individual’s entry into the
United States’’ and inserting ‘‘, subject to
428
‘‘(ii) Except as provided in clause (iii), the
amount of each of the first and second installments
may not exceed an amount equal to the product of
clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A).
‘‘(iii) In the case of an individual who has—
‘‘(I) outstanding debt attributable to—
‘‘(aa) food,
‘‘(bb) clothing,
‘‘(cc) shelter, or
‘‘(dd) medically necessary services,
supplies or equipment, or medicine; or
‘‘(II) current expenses or expenses antici-
pated in the near term attributable to—
‘‘(aa) medically necessary services,
supplies or equipment, or medicine, or
‘‘(bb) the purchase of a home, and
such debt or expenses are not subject to
reimbursement by a public assistance pro-
gram, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services under title XVIII, a State plan
approved under title XIX, or any private
entity legally liable to provide payment
pursuant to an insurance policy, pre-paid
plan, or other arrangement, the limitation
specified in clause (ii) may be exceeded by