LETTERS: WHEAT'S STAND ON WELFARE REFORM

To the editor:

For several weeks, Republican senatorial candidate John Ashcroft has been running a television ad on welfare reform. The ad is not only a distortion but a lie.

Ashcroft claims that Congressman Alan Wheat supports providing welfare benefits to illegal aliens. That is not true. Federal law presently denies aid to illegal immigrants. Alan Wheat was a sponsor of the Mainstream Welfare Reform plan. The Mainstream plan limits welfare benefits even further by denying them to legal immigrants. The vote cited by Ashcroft was a motion to instruct House conferees to insist on Senate provisions to the 1994 Crime Bill to deny federal benefits to illegal immigrants.

The measure was not germane and was essentially pointless. Federal law already prohibits benefits (AFDC, SSI, food stamps, Medicaid - except emergencies, legal services, assistance under the Job Training Partnership Act, unemployment compensation, post-secondary student financial aid) from going to illegal aliens. Education and emergency benefits must be provided pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision. The only thing provided to illegal aliens in the Crime Bill that was not previously provided is the death penalty in 60 new situations.

Congressman Wheat has long been a champion of welfare reform. Ashcroft is trying to distract voters from Wheat's leadership on this issue by lying about his record and distorting a non-germane vote on the Crime Bill, which Ashcroft opposed.

RICHARD MARTIN

Executive Director

Missouri Democratic Party

Jefferson City