Roybal Draws Fire Over Loss of U. S. Aid for Immigrants : Congress: The 15-term House member points out that the California delegation did not unite behind the program. The low-key legislator has generated unusual attention recently.

No lawmaker from California was in a better position this year to protect $1.1 billion in approved federal funding for newly legalized immigrants than Rep. Edward R. Roybal.

As one of 13 “cardinals” who head appropriations subcommittees that control the House purse strings, Roybal is a senior Democratic leader with considerable influence. The prominent Latino congressman, whose downtown-East Los Angeles district contains the highest concentration of Latinos in the state, has been a pioneer in advancing immigrant causes throughout his 29 years in Congress.

So it rankled some of his California colleagues when the 75-year-old Roybal could not muster the necessary political clout to prevent Congress from raiding the entire $1.1 billion in immigrant assistance funds to pay for other programs.

“You have to question why he didn’t produce something given his longtime loyalties,” said a fellow California Democrat, who asked not to be identified. “He wasn’t forceful, he wasn’t aggressive and he didn’t seem to know how to work the system.”

Others, however, suggest Roybal did all he could to rescue funding for a program that had virtually no support on Capitol Hill outside California.

“Ed Roybal fought hard for this funding,” said Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City). “Ed Roybal, Howard Berman and the entire California delegation obviously were not as effective as we needed to be this past year.”

Roybal said it does not surprise him that some members of the California congressional delegation--a group he chastised for its divisiveness--are trying to “place all the blame on me.” He pointed out that the delegation did not unite in support of the program. “So, there’s a little blame to be spread around widely,” he said.

The loss is potentially devastating for financially strapped California, which is home to 1.3 million new immigrants under the amnesty program--61% of the nation’s total. As a result, the federal government will withhold about $600 million in reimbursements for medical, welfare and educational costs to California during the current fiscal year.

In coming months, medical clinics and education programs serving immigrants throughout California are expected to close as funding dries up, state health officials said. More than half of the state’s immigrant population lives in Los Angeles County.

The shortfall led Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who traveled to Washington recently to ask the Bush Administration to reinstate the program next year, to blame the state’s fiscal crisis in part on increasing demands for services by immigrants.

The immigration funding debacle also raised questions about the effectiveness of Roybal.

Ordinarily a low-key legislator who prefers to work behind the scenes, Roybal has generated unusual attention recently. Earlier this month, federal officials removed portions of a nude sculpture--hours after Roybal submitted a complaint--from a new government building in Los Angeles that carries the congressman’s name. The controversy prompted Rep. Les AuCoin (D-Ore.) to remark: “Who in the hell elected Ed Roybal our Minister of Culture?”

On Friday evening, Roybal’s daughter, state Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, announced at a fund raiser that she will run next year for a proposed Eastside Latino congressional seat. Roybal welcomed the news, saying he is looking forward to the possibility of becoming part of the first father-daughter duo in the history of Congress.

The 15-term congressman, who never has faced a serious challenge in his district, said he has no plans to retire. “My health is good,” said Roybal, who suffered a stroke four years ago. “I think I can still handle myself as well as I used to when I was younger.”

In 1949, Roybal became the first Latino elected to the Los Angeles City Council and served 13 years before being elected to Congress. His move to Washington created a void in Latino representation on the City Council that lasted more than two decades.

In his combined 42 years representing the Eastside, Roybal has come to be widely respected as a community elder and a champion of the downtrodden. His 25th District covers most of East Los Angeles, but also includes downtown Los Angeles, Little Tokyo, Koreatown and a slice of Pasadena.

“These are poor people who need health care, people who also have to have some assistance of some kind,” he said. “I don’t represent the rich, even though there are rich people in my district.”

Roybal has been an ardent supporter of bilingual education and health programs. He was the first member of Congress to push for AIDS research funding, despite being ridiculed on the House floor. As chairman of the Select Committee on Aging, Roybal has been a tireless advocate for the elderly. He also founded the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, of which he currently is president.

“I can’t think of a person in the House who is more sensitive and more responsive to issues of our community than Congressman Roybal,” said Mario Moreno, regional counsel in Washington for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

In 1978, Roybal’s record was tarnished when he had to persuade House members to reprimand him--rather than the Ethics Committee’s tougher recommendation for a censure--for lying about a $1,000 gift from South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park. At the time, Roybal called the vote “not only a personal victory for me, but for all Hispanics throughout the nation.”

In the 1980s, Roybal played perhaps his most visible role as a vigorous opponent of the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration bill, which was finally approved in 1986. As chairman of the Hispanic Caucus, Roybal raised concerns that employer sanctions would lead to discrimination against Latinos who were legal residents.

As part of that landmark legislation, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Congress approved $4 billion over a seven-year period to finance the State Legalization Impact Assistance Grant program to provide medical, welfare and educational services for immigrants legalized under the amnesty law. But when competition for federal spending grew intense, the White House and Congress began slashing program funds to pay for other health and education programs. Funds for the program were considered expendable by many members of Congress because some of the money previously allocated had not been spent due to bureaucratic delays.

After cutting a total of $1.13 billion in fiscal years 1990 and 1991, Congress promised to restore the full amount this year. Instead, the Bush Administration proposed no funding for assistance grant program.

Roybal said he tried to replace $500 million of program funds this year through the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services. The congressman was hamstrung during a key subcommittee hearing in June because his top appropriations aide, Jorge Lambrinos, was away on duty during the Gulf War.

Roybal turned to his longtime colleague, Rep. William Natcher (D-Ky.), chairman of the health appropriations subcommittee, for help. Natcher, Roybal said, pledged to come up with immigrant funds when the House and Senate versions of the appropriations bill were considered by a joint conference committee.

“Natcher could not keep his word,” Roybal said. “He assured us they were going to take care of us in conference. I tried on several occasions in the final conference with the Senate (but) it could not be done.”

Natcher could not be reached for comment, but an aide said he was unable to get any new money for the assistance program because of technical rules governing House-Senate conference committee sessions.

A dozen lawmakers from California and top congressional staffers said in interviews that they could not fathom how Roybal’s request was so easily dismissed by Natcher. All spoke privately because they said Roybal remains a powerful appropriator who could affect the fate of their projects.

Saying the assistance program was “not my only No. 1 priority,” Roybal emphasized that he succeeded in getting other important programs funded through the $205-billion appropriations bill for labor, health and education programs. These items--which were not in peril--included $1.9 billion for AIDS research and education, $225 million for bilingual education and $24 million for “minority centers of excellence” to encourage Latino students to pursue professions in the health field.

Roybal said he persuaded Natcher to insert language into the appropriations bill to provide “sufficient funding” for the State Legalization Impact Assistance Grant program in next year’s budget. He said he is hopeful of securing $1.1 billion in immigrant funds next year because other states--Texas, Florida and New York--also will be short of funds for immigrant services.

However, appropriations committee staffers say that as in past years the assistance program will have to compete with other programs.

In a rare display of unity, 41 of the 45 House members from California fired off an angrily worded memo last month to Natcher threatening to withhold support of next year’s labor appropriations bill unless it contained at least $1.1 billion in funding for immigrant services. “The California delegation is united in its outrage at the flagrant discrimination against our state,” the letter said.