January 10, 2002 White House Seeking to Restore Food Stamp Aid for Noncitizens By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 — The Bush administration proposed today to restore food stamps to many legal immigrants, whose eligibility for benefits was severely restricted by the 1996 welfare law.
The White House said that at least 363,000 people — legal immigrants who have not become citizens — would qualify for food stamps under the plan, to be included in the budget President Bush sends Congress in early February. The proposal would cost the federal government $2.1 billion over 10 years, the administration said. In October, 18.4 million people were receiving food stamps.
Mr. Bush's plan, or something like it, has an excellent chance of becoming law. The Senate is considering such changes as part of a far-reaching bill to reauthorize farm and nutrition programs. Under the proposal, the White House said, noncitizens with low incomes could qualify for food stamps after living here legally for five years. A similar test already applies to legal immigrants seeking Medicaid or cash assistance.
The welfare bill passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 made noncitizens ineligible for food stamps and many other types of assistance financed with federal money. Supporters of the ban, mostly Republicans, argued that federal benefits drew immigrants to the United States and then discouraged them from working.
Senator Phil Gramm, Republican of Texas, expressed the intent of Congress in 1996 when he said, "Immigrants should come to the U.S. with their sleeves rolled up, ready to work, not with their hands out, ready to go on welfare."
But today, amid a recession that is hurting many immigrants, and with the government waging a war on terrorism that has targeted some immigrants, Mr. Bush is eager to show his commitment to them. He is also eager to address domestic problems — a transition his father failed to make effectively a decade ago after the Persian Gulf war.
Many of those who could benefit from the food stamp proposal are Hispanic. The White House has been ardently courting Hispanic voters.
In an interview today, Newt Gingrich, the House speaker in 1996, said: "I strongly support the president's initiative. In a law that has reduced welfare by more than 50 percent, this is one of the provisions that went too far. In retrospect, it was wrong. President Bush's instincts are exactly right."
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