Food Stamp Benefits for Legal Immigrants in P.L. 105-185

Food Stamp Benefits for Legal Immigrants in P.L. 105-185

98-316 EPW
Updated June 30, 1998
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Food Stamp Benefits for Legal Immigrants
in P.L. 105-185
Joyce Vialet
Specialist in Immigration Policy
Education and Public Welfare Division
Summary
Food stamp eligibility will be provided for approximately 250,000 legal immigrants
under P.L. 105-185, the “Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act
of 1998,” at a cost of $818 million for FY1999-FY2003. The food stamp eligibility
provisions take effect on November 1, 1998.
Background
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
(PRWORA; P.L. 104-193) established significant new restrictions on the eligibility of
legal immigrants, or “qualified aliens,” for needs-based public assistance.1 Previously,
legal immigrants were eligible for public assistance on much the same basis as citizens.
The 1996 welfare law barred most legal aliens from Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
and the Food Stamp Program. Also, states may limit alien access to Medicaid and
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, which replaced AFDC). “Qualified
aliens” arriving after August 22, 1996, are barred from these and most other means-tested
programs for 5 years after arrival (after which time the state option on TANF and
Medicaid applies). Eligibility for TANF and Medicaid is further limited for immigrants
who applied for immigrant status on the basis of a family relationship after December 19,
1997. They are required to have the new affidavit of support, a legally binding contract
in which their sponsor guarantees their support.2
The term “qualified aliens” is defined by PRWORA to include legal permanent
residents, refugees, aliens paroled into the United States for at least 1 year, aliens granted
1 For more information on current eligibility rules, see CRS Report 96-617, Alien Eligibility for
Public Assistance, by Joyce Vialet and Larry M. Eig;
2 See CRS Report 97-1054, Immigration: The New Affidavit of Support—Questions, Answers,
and Issues, by Joyce Vialet.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

CRS-2
asylum or related relief, certain abused spouses and children, and Cuban/Haitian entrants.3
Noncitizens who are eligible for benefits on the same basis as U.S. citizens include: (1)
“qualified aliens” who meet a 10-year requirement for work covered under the social
security system and (2) veterans and active duty military personnel, together with their
family.
The 1996 changes in the alien eligibility rules proved controversial, particularly the
termination of SSI and related Medicaid benefits for aliens who were already receiving
those benefits when the 1996 welfare act became law. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997
(P.L. 105-33) continued SSI and related Medicaid for both aged and disabled noncitizens
receiving benefits on August 22, 1996, the enactment date of P.L. 104-193, and for
noncitizens here before that date who later become disabled. It also extended the refugee
and asylee exemption from SSI and Medicaid restrictions for from 5 to 7 years.4
Noncitizen Food Stamp Eligibility under P.L. 105-185
Following restoration of some SSI and Medicaid benefits to noncitizens, the focus
shifted to food stamps. Proposals were included in the President’s FY1999 budget and,
on a smaller scale, in the conference agreement on S. 1150, the “Agricultural Research,
Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998,” approved by conferees on March 24,
1998. This legislation, signed into law on June 23, 1998, provides $818 million fo
5
r
FY1999-FY2003 to restore benefits to approximately 250,000 people. The following
groups become eligible for food stamps on November 1, 1998 under P.L. 105-185:
! Noncitizen children under age 18 who entered by August 22, 1996, the enactment
date of the PRWORA.
! Legal immigrants here by August 22, 1996 who were age 65 and over or disabled,
and those who subsequently become disabled after that date;
! Refugees and asylees for 7 years after entry as refugees or obtaining asylum status
in the United States, as opposed to 5 years under current law;
! Hmong refugees from Laos who came here after the Vietnam War; and
! Certain Native Americans living along the Canadian and Mexican borders.
These provisions are compared with prior law in Table 1.
3 Special rules applying to refugees and asylees (including Cuban/Haitian entrants and
Amerasians) make them eligible for TANF for 5 years after entering as refugees or being granted
asylum, and for 7 years for SSI, Medicaid, and now food stamps.

4 See CRS Report 97-400, Immigration-related Welfare Provisions in 105th Congress Legislation,
by Joyce Vialet.

5 See CRS Issue Brief 98019, Food Stamps: 1998 Issues, by Joe Richardson; and CRS Report 98-
153, Immigration-related Food Stamp and Child Health Proposals in the President’s FY1999
Budget, by Joyce Vialet and Joe Richardson.

CRS-3
Table 1. Noncitizen Food Stamp Eligibility under P.L. 105-185
and Prior Law
Provision
P.L. 104-193 prior to
P.L. 105-185
amendment
Food stamp eligibility of
“Qualified aliens” barred
No change in current law
“qualified aliens”*
from food stamps unless
for entries after 8/22/96
regardless of entry date
work requirement met or
otherwise exempt
Food stamp eligibility of
None unless work
Eligible if 65 or over or
“qualified aliens” here by
requirement met or
disabled, and while under
8/22/96
otherwise exempt
age 18
Subsequent food stamp
None unless work
Extended to those who
eligibility of “qualified
requirement met or
subsequently become
aliens” here by 8/22/96
otherwise exempt
disabled
Refugee and asylee
Refugees and asylees
Extends exemption from
exemption (including
exempted for 5 years from
5 to 7 years for food
Cuban/Haitian entrants
bar against food stamps
stamps
and Amerasians)
Hmong eligibility for
Covered by 5-year refugee
Exempts members of
food stamps
exemption if applicable
Hmong tribes that
assisted U.S. during
Vietnam war, and
immediate family
members
Native American
Members of Indian Tribes
Exempts from food
exemption
and certain Native
stamp bar
Americans born in Canada
subject to food stamp bar
on “qualified aliens”
* “Qualified aliens” include legal permanent residents, refugees, aliens granted asylum or similar relief,
aliens paroled into the U.S. for at least 1 year, certain battered family members, and Cuban/Haitian
entrants.
Legislative History
The conference report on S. 1150 was agreed to on March 24, 1998 and filed in the
House on April 22 (H. Rept. 105-492). It passed the Senate on May 12, 1998 following
the defeat of a motion to recommit it to the Agriculture Committee. The motion to
recommit was defeated by a vote of 23 to 77, and the final Senate vote on the conference
report was 92-8.

CRS-4
Senator Phil Gramm introduced the motion to recommit S. 1150 with instructions
to limit the extension of refugee eligibility for food stamps from 5 to 7 years to those
refugees who had entered before August 22, 1996, the enactment date of the welfare law.
His objections to the bill focused solely on the food stamp provisions. He argued that
they constituted a breach of the agreement to restrict benefits for noncitizens reached in
that law and, as such, represented an incentive to come to the United States. Senator
Richard Lugar discussed the requirements for admission to the United States as a refugee,
and strongly questioned whether the availability of food stamps for two additional years
would act as a magnet. Senator Tom Harkin pointed out that Senator Gramm had raised
no such objections to the identical provisions in P.L. 105-33, the Balanced Budget Act of
1997, extending refugee eligibility for SSI and Medicaid from 5 to 7 years.

Senator Gramm also argued against the noncitizen food stamp provisions on the
grounds that they were added by the conferees. In fact, the only food stamp provisions
in the House and Senate bills were those in the Senate-passed bill restoring benefits to
certain Native Americans living along the Canadian and Mexican borders. This was a key
issue in the May 22, 1998 House debate which led to the defeat of the rule to bring the
conference report on S. 1150 to the floor.
Like the Senate debate, the House debate on May 22 focused on the provisions
restoring food stamps to legal immigrants. The proposed rule allowed for an amendment
to strike these provisions on the ground that they were in neither the House nor Senate-
passed versions of the bill, and thus beyond the scope of the conference. The House rule
was defeated by a vote of 120-289. Those opposing it argued that the rule’s intent was
to eliminate the noncitizen food stamp provisions, and that there had been an agreement
that this issue would be dealt with by the conferees. S. 1150 was brought to the House
floor again on June 4, 1998 under a different rule, and passed by a vote of 364 to 50.
President Clinton signed S. 1150 into law as P.L. 105-185 on June 23, 1998. Under
an effective date included in the Act, the food stamp benefits provided by it do not
become available until November 1, 1998.