[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13] [Senate] [Page 17802] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]SSI EXTENSION FOR ELDERLY AND DISABLED REFUGEES ACT Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2608 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report the bill by title. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A bill (H.R. 2608) to amend section 402 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide, in fiscal years 2008 through 2010, extensions of supplemental security income for refugees, asylees, and certain other humanitarian immigrants, and to amend the Internal Revenue Code to collect unemployment compensation debts resulting from fraud. There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill. Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise to extend my appreciation that the Senate will pass the ``SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act.'' I thank Chairman Baucus and Senator Grassley for their help in moving this important legislation to the President. This is a bill that I introduced in the Senate with Senator Kohl and it will make a significant impact in helping our most vulnerable asylees and refugees. I also want to thank Senator Specter for his tremendous support of this bill and help in negotiating a final package. The passage of this bill sends a message that we have not and will not turn our back on those whom we have welcomed to our country. As many of you may know, Congress modified the Supplemental Security Income--SSI--program to include a 7-year time limit on the receipt of benefits for refugees and asylees. To allow adequate time for asylees and refugees to become naturalized citizens, Congress provided the 7- year time limit before the expiration of SSI benefits. Unfortunately, the naturalization process often takes longer than 7 years. Applicants are required to live in the United States for a minimum of 5 years prior to applying for citizenship. In addition to that time period, their application process often can take 3 or more years before there is resolution. Because of this time delay, many individuals are trapped in the system and faced with the loss of their SSI benefits. In fact, by the end of 2008 more than 30,000 elderly and disabled refugees will have lost their benefits and more than 19,000 are projected to lose their benefits in the coming years. Many of these individuals are elderly refugees who fled persecution or torture in their home countries. They include Jewish refugees fleeing religious persecution in the former Soviet Union, Iraqi Kurds fleeing the Saddam Hussein regime, Cubans and Hmong people from the highlands of Laos who served on the side of the United States military during the Vietnam War. They are elderly and unable to work, and have become reliant on their SSI benefits as their primary income. To penalize them because of delays encountered through the bureaucratic process seems unjust and inappropriate. The administration, in its fiscal year 2009 budget, acknowledged the necessity of correcting this problem by dedicating funding to extend refugee eligibility for SSI beyond the 7-year limit. This legislation builds upon those efforts by allowing an additional 2 years of benefits for elderly and disabled refugees, asylees, and other qualified humanitarian immigrants, including those whose benefits have expired in the recent past. The Senate version requires that eligible individuals demonstrate that they are moving toward citizenship in order to gain the additional 2-year extension of benefits. While the Act provides flexibility to the Social Security Administration--SSA--and the Department of Homeland Security--DHS--in developing a procedure whereby they can verify an applicant's eligibility for the extension of benefits, it is our intent that whatever procedure SSA and DHS establish, it does not impose any undue burdens or barriers on the benefactors of this Act. Additionally, the bill allows benefits to be extended for a third year for those refugees who are awaiting a decision on a pending naturalization application. These policies are limited to 2011 and are completely offset in cost by a provision that will allow the Department of Labor to recapture federal funds that are the result of unemployment insurance fraud. I again thank my colleagues for their support of this bill and for its passage. Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Smith substitute at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the title amendment be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements be printed in the Record. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment (No. 5260) was agreed to. (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of Amendments.'') The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill read a third time. The bill (H.R. 2608), as amended, was read the third time and passed. The amendment (No. 5261) was agreed to, as follows: Amend the title so as to read; ``An Act to amend section 402 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide, in fiscal years 2009 and 2011, extensions of supplemental security income for refugees, asylees, and certain other humanitarian immigrants, and to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to collect unemployment compensation debts resulting from fraud.''. ____________________