The President and Republican leaders announced on May 2, 1997 a historic compromise that is intended to lead to a balanced federal budget by the year 2002. One of the less publicized provisions in the deal is the partial fulfillment of the President’s pledge to restore the cuts faced by legal immigrants under the Welfare reform bill passed last year. $10 billion in cuts in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to disabled legal immigrants are set to be restored. According to the Congressional Budget Office, cuts in welfare benefits to legal immigrants were expected to amount to $24 billion over the five year budget agreement. The $10 billion in restored spending will reduce the impact of the Welfare Bill on immigrants by 40%. The restored cuts will only apply to immigrants who were in the country before August 22, 1996. Approximately one-third of disabled legal immigrants are expected to remain ineligible for SSI because they only arrived recently. Also, the restored cuts only apply to SSI and not to other benefits like Federal housing assistance, Food Stamps and other programs.
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