CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.House Bill 1963
Florida House of Representatives - 1997 HM 1963
By Representatives Garcia, Morse, Barreiro, Betancourt,
Villalobos and Lacasa
1 House Memorial
2 A memorial to the Congress of the United
3 States, urging Congress to take immediate
4 action to repeal new federal legislation which
5 removes financial assistance to legal
6 residents.
7
8 WHEREAS, for the past four decades, the government of
9 the United States of America has welcomed hundreds of
10 thousands of political refugees and other legal immigrants to
11 the shores of this country, thereby helping them fulfill their
12 deepest desire for freedom and a better way of life, and
13 WHEREAS, these political refugees and immigrants, in
14 time, became permanent residents, and
15 WHEREAS, over seventy thousand of these legal residents
16 have resided and labored in the United States for more than
17 three decades, and
18 WHEREAS, many hundreds of thousands of these legal
19 residents have settled in the State of Florida, and
20 WHEREAS, these legal residents have paid taxes, have
21 been exemplary citizens and law-abiding residents, and have
22 shared with the United States the benefit of their culture as
23 well as their toil, sweat, and tears, and
24 WHEREAS, these legal residents have given the United
25 States of America their children, who in turn have also been
26 taxpayers, good citizens, and soldiers, and have contributed
27 to this nation with their work, effort, and taxes, and
28 WHEREAS, newly enacted federal legislation will
29 eliminate necessary assistance to tens of thousands of our
30 legal residents, and
31
1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1997 HM 1963
224-154A-97
1 WHEREAS, this newly enacted federal legislation will
2 eliminate federal assistance to 100,000 aged, needy, and
3 elderly legal residents, and
4 WHEREAS, this newly enacted federal legislation will
5 deprive the State of Florida of hundreds of millions of
6 dollars of federal assistance now used to assist our elderly,
7 needy, aged, and sick legal residents, and
8 WHEREAS, depriving the State of Florida of these needed
9 federal funds will result in chaos to the economies of our
10 state and local governments, and
11 WHEREAS, in the twilight of their lives, this newly
12 enacted federal legislation has eliminated needed assistance,
13 for all practical purposes abandoning these legal residents
14 when they are in the greatest need of the services and
15 assistance of their adopted country, and
16 WHEREAS, now that they are aged and frail, no longer
17 able to work and care for themselves, many of them sick and in
18 nursing homes, these legal residents will be deprived of
19 minimum medical care, shelter, and assistance, and
20 WHEREAS, the people and the Legislature of the State of
21 Florida can not and will not stand by while hundreds of our
22 valued legal residents now suffer a fate worse than death, a
23 life of fear and despair, NOW, THEREFORE,
24
25 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
26
27 That the Congress of the United States is requested to
28 take immediate action to repeal legislation which threatens
29 the existence of hundreds of thousands of our legal residents
30 and to restore the reductions in assistance to aged, needy,
31 and sick legal residents.
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 1997 HM 1963
224-154A-97
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the citizens of the State
2 of Florida are urged to unite in requesting that our
3 Congressmen and Senators representing the State of Florida in
4 Washington, D.C., take proper notice of this impending human
5 tragedy, and that local governments across the state be
6 alerted to the fact that this federal legislation imposes an
7 unacceptable burden on the economies of our local schools,
8 hospitals, social services, and taxpayers.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legal residents
10 residing within the State of Florida be assured that the
11 people of the State of Florida will not forget their
12 contributions to the social structure and fabric of our
13 communities and the economic contributions they have made to
14 our state and our cities and counties, and will not stand idly
15 by in their present plight and forget them in their hour of
16 need.
17 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
18 dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
19 President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
20 United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
21 the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
3