Friday, Aug 29, 2008
Now, as Bush makes Latino outreach a cornerstone of his campaign, he continues to walk a tightrope in regards to benefits for immigrants. "I think it's very fair to say that the governor's office has been eager to never take a position that's overtly opposed to immigrants, but they've also not supported proactive initiatives to help the policy," said Anne Dunkelberg, senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin, Texas.
The center's nutrition-policy analyst, Celia Hagert, said that in 1999 there was a push to cover an additional 7,300 legal immigrants who were not picked up by the 1998 federal legislation. That bill would have covered children and seniors currently living in Texas who arrived after the August 1996 cutoff date, and to lower the senior eligibility age from 65 to 60. That measure never got out of the Legislature after clearing some preliminary votes.
"Had we gotten more support from the governor's office, it probably would have passed," said Hagert. "His office indicated to us that he would not support that bill."
Although Hagert says there is no way of knowing how many formerly eligible immigrants are now uncovered, there were approximately 168,000 receiving food stamps before the welfare act passed in 1996. Now, there are only 52,000 currently getting benefits in Texas, though a booming economy may have eliminated some of the demand.
Though Bush has not supported many of the center's initiatives, Dunkelberg did give the governor partial credit for instituting the state-funded program in 1997. "One of the first things to remember about Texas is that we're one of those states that doesn't have any state funded [welfare] programs," she said.
But now that the federal government has made welfare the charge of the states, Dunkelberg said next year's legislative session will be pivotal in determining the future of welfare in Texas. "One of the things the welfare reform act did was tell states that pre-August '96 and post-August '96 immigrants get treated completely differently. The question is what kind of benefits we are going to provide after the five-year time limit is up. Are you going to provide these benefits after that five-year bar is up. Nobody is up until 2001."
"We just got around to enacting a new children's health insurance program, and as part of that package, we included a provision to pick up any of those kids who arrived after August '96. We asked the governor's office to support the bill, but they politely declined."
Get Salon in your mailbox!