Budget Would Restore Some Immigrant Aid

By ROBERT A. ROSENBLATT

Feb. 7, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON —

President Clinton’s fiscal 1998 budget calls for restoring welfare benefits, Medicaid and food stamps for disabled legal immigrants, saying immigrants were touched “more adversely than any other group” by last year’s welfare reform legislation.

Although the Republican-controlled Congress opposes the idea, Clinton’s budget plan would keep on the rolls an estimated 350,000 of the 500,000 immigrants scheduled to lose their benefits in August and September. Clinton wants to spend $9.7 billion to restore the benefits.

California has about 40% of the nation’s legal immigrants and would be the biggest beneficiary of the change.

But the proposal faces tough going in Congress, where Republican leaders are opposed to changes in the welfare law, which ordered an end to all benefits for legal immigrants.

Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.), a leading architect of the welfare measure, predicted Thursday that Congress will not change the law but might consider approving a block grant or other special funding for states heavily affected by the problem.

“I want to be careful not to completely slam the door shut and say we won’t spend another dime,” Shaw said. “There may be some transitional funding that might appear reasonable as we go through the process.”

But he said $2 billion over five years would be the “maximum that anyone could really look for,” and that there was “no way we are going back to the practice of treating noncitizens the way we do citizens.”

During his reelection campaign last year, Clinton regularly promised to soften the blow that the welfare bill--which he signed into law--landed on immigrants who were in this country legally. “I hope we can change that,” he told the Southern Governors’ Assn. in September.

The benefits at stake are food stamps, Supplemental Security Income--which provides monthly checks to poor people who are disabled, blind or aged--and Medicaid, which pays doctor and hospital bills for the poor.

The government began mailing notices on Tuesday to more than 800,000 legal immigrants, including 326,000 in California, telling them they will be cut off the benefits rolls unless they are veterans or have worked in the United States for 10 years. Some recipients of the letters may no longer be concerned because they recently have become naturalized citizens and thus are eligible for benefits. Others may have dropped out of the welfare programs.

The current estimate is that 500,000 will lose their benefits, according to the Social Security Administration, which runs the SSI program. Those notified in this month’s mailings will go off the rolls in August, and those notified in March will lose their eligibility in September.

Under the president’s proposal, legal immigrants who are disabled--the official definition is having been unable to work for a year--would be restored to SSI eligibility. And legal immigrant children classified as disabled--unable to match the physical or mental performance of their age group--also would be restored to eligibility.

Most of the people affected are elderly. The majority of legal immigrants in the SSI welfare program--about 68%--are over 65. And most are unable to work, thereby meeting the definition of disabled.

“We cannot ignore the plight of those elderly immigrants who can no longer provide for themselves; or those immigrants who suffer from an accident or serious illness which prevents them from being able to be self-sufficient,” Social Security Commissioner Shirley S. Chater said at a news conference where she discussed the administration proposal.

The administration is “asking Congress to restore benefits to these deserving noncitizens,” Chater said.

The president’s proposal “definitely helps,” said S. Duane Dauner, president of the California Assn. of Health Care Systems, which represents hospitals and doctors’ group practices.

SSI beneficiaries also are eligible for Medi-Cal--the California version of the Medicaid program--and the loss of benefits would impose a new financial hardship on hospitals. Caring for immigrants without payment from Medi-Cal would mean big losses for hospitals.

“Anything we can do to continue coverage for [the legal immigrants] would help people who have no other means of support and would be of benefit to the health care providers,” Dauner said. “We have a moral and legal obligation to continue to provide support,” he said.

Hospital officials will “be working closely” with members of the the California delegation from both parties to address the special situation in the state, considering its large population of legal immigrants, Dauner said.

Times staff writer Janet Hook contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

GOP Targets

Some likely sticking points between President Clinton and Republicans over his 1998 budget.

Tax cuts

Clinton: Wants $98 billion over five years

GOP: Wants twice that

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Tax increases

Clinton: Plans $76 billion

GOP: Says that’s too high

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