Marsico Implores House State Government Committee to End Wasteful Misuse of Public Benefits by Illegal Immigrants

Marsico Implores House State Government Committee to End Wasteful Misuse of Public Benefits by Illegal Immigrants
 
HARRISBURG-State Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Lower Paxton) today testified at a House State Government Committee hearing in support of his legislation requiring proof of citizenship prior to receiving public benefits.
 
“I was pleased to have the opportunity to speak at a public hearing before the House State Government Committee today to implore the need for passage of my legislation,” said Marsico. “It has been estimated that there are approximately 140,000 illegal aliens currently living in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s illegal immigrant population has been estimated to cost the state’s taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. It is clear that our illegal alien population represents a major burden on the state’s taxpayers and on the state budget.”
 
Marsico’s bill, known as the Proof of Citizenship for Receipt of Public Benefits Act, would define public benefits as any welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit or any other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household or family eligibility unit by an agency of the Commonwealth or local government.
 
“I was truly shocked and disturbed at the testimony I heard today against my legislation. While various other states such as Arizona, Idaho and Georgia have implemented laws similar to House Bill 1359 and have indicated that there is NO negative impact on their General Fund, Governor Rendell’s administration is misleading the public to believe that it would cost Pennsylvania millions of dollars to implement the same type of legislation,” said Marsico. “The administration also suggested that there is no way to change our current electronic and telephone unemployment system to require a person to provide a valid form of identification. This just confirms the dire need for my legislation. Apparently these benefits are being given away without verifying a person’s identity stringently enough.
 
“For two hours during the hearing today, I heard about how difficult it would be for people to prove their identities. If someone is here legally, it should simply not be that difficult. What is difficult is paying for our state’s illegal alien population year after year,” said Marsico. “Even if this legislation takes some extra effort, modifications to our current procedures and additional resources in order to enact it, we would still come out millions of dollars ahead. It is completely irresponsible for any legislator or governor to ignore this astronomical problem and continue to burden our law-abiding taxpayers. In fact, it’s downright insulting to Pennsylvanians. If we don’t rectify this problem now, it will only worsen.”
 
House Bill 1359 has been in the House State Government Committee since April 2009.

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