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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D.Austin who wrote (216966)	1/10/2002 11:48:51 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 769670

Tell it to GW. Bush Wants to Restore Some Food Stamps Photos By PHILIP BRASHER, AP Farm Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration wants to reverse part of the 1996 welfare overhaul and restore food stamps for 363,000 legal immigrants, an idea that probably will be well received by Hispanic voters this election year. Immigrants who have lived in the country for at least five years would be eligible for the benefits under the proposal that will be part of President Bush (news - web sites)'s 2003 budget. Under current rules, adult immigrants must have worked in the country for at least 10 years, no matter how long they had lived in the United States, or be a refugee or member of the military to qualify for benefits. The full 363,000 would be enrolled by 2006. A senior administration official, who described the proposal Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said the White House wants the rule change included in an overhaul of farm and nutrition policy now pending in Congress. ``I'm not shocked because President Bush has in the past recognized that this was a community that he needs to be accountable to ... and that this is a constituency he would like to appeal to,'' said Tanya Broder, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center. The Los Angeles-based advocacy group wants benefits restored to all immigrants. Many farm workers, whose jobs are seasonal, could benefit from the rule change, she said. The White House proposal sets up a potential battle with Senate Democratic leaders, who have proposed restoring benefits to 150,000 immigrants through changes in the work requirement and other rules. Democrats have resisted more generous changes that would cut the amount of money available for farm subsidies. ``The question is how the administration plans to pay'' for its proposal, said Seth Boffeli, a spokesman for Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. About 800,000 immigrants were removed from the food stamp rolls in 1996, according to the Agriculture Department, which runs the program. Two years later, benefits were restored to about 175,000 immigrants, mostly children and older people who were in the country before enactment of the welfare law. The administration's proposal would cost $2.1 billion over 10 years. The White House has not said how it would pay for it. The food-stamp program costs about $17 billion annually. Food stamp rolls fell from 25.5 million in 1996, when Congress overhauled the welfare system, to below 17 million early last year. By October, with the nation's economy slumping, the number swelled to 18.4 million. The administration also is expected to propose simplifying the application process, a priority of Eric Bost, the Agriculture Department's undersecretary for food and nutrition and Texas' welfare chief when Bush was governor there. A farm bill written by Senate Democrats would boost food-stamp spending $620 million annually, or 2.5 percent, by changing several rules and lowering the work requirement for immigrants. The House-passed farm bill, which does not include the immigrant provision, would increase food-stamp spending by $300 million a year. Last month, the Democratic-controlled Senate soundly defeated a proposal by Sen. Richard Lugar (news), R-Ind., that would have added $1 billion a year in new food-stamp spending by scrapping some farm programs. Conservatives have argued that a work or residency requirement is necessary to keep people from moving to the United States to take advantage of the welfare system. The administration should be trying to tighten eligibility requirements for food stamps, not loosen them, said Robert Rector, senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation think tank. ``The current food stamp program ... rewards illegitimacy and nonwork,'' Rector said. The Agriculture Department estimates one in 10 American households are going hungry or don't have consistent access to adequate food. dailynews.yahoo.com