Section 1 Short titles
This Act may be cited as the “Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration Act of 2022” or the “LIFT the BAR Act of 2022”.
Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration Act of 2022
A BILL
To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide certain benefits to noncitizens, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Availability of basic assistance to lawfully present noncitizens
Elimination of arbitrary eligibility restrictions—
In general— Sections 402, 403, 411, 412, 421, and 422 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1612, 1613, 1621, 1622, 1631, and 1632) are repealed.
Conforming amendments— Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended—
in section 401(b)(5) (8 U.S.C. 1611(b)(5)), by striking “the program defined in section 402(a)(3)(A) (relating to the supplemental security income program)” and inserting “the Supplemental Security Income Program under title XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.)”;
in section 404(a) (8 U.S.C. 1614(a)), by striking “, 402, or 403”;
in section 413 (8 U.S.C. 1625)—
by striking “A State” and inserting the following:
“(a) State or local public benefit defined—In this section, except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), the term State or local public benefit—
“(1) means—
“(A) any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial license provided by an agency of a State or local government or by appropriated funds of a State or local government; and
“(B) any retirement, 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 a State or local government or by appropriated funds of a State or local government;
“(2) shall not apply—
“(A) to any contract, professional license, or commercial license for a nonimmigrant whose visa for entry is related to such employment in the United States, or to a citizen of a freely associated state, if section 141 of the applicable compact of free association approved in Public Law 99–239 or 99–658 (or a successor provision) is in effect;
“(B) with respect to benefits for an alien who as a work authorized nonimmigrant or as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence under the Immigration and Nationality Act qualified for such benefits and for whom the United States under reciprocal treaty agreements is required to pay benefits, as determined by the Secretary of State, after consultation with the Attorney General; or
“(C) to the issuance of a professional license to, or the renewal of a professional license by, a foreign national not physically present in the United States; and
“(3) does not include any Federal public benefit.
“(b) Proof of eligibility requirement—A State”
in subsection (b), as redesignated, by striking “(as defined in section 411(c))”;
in section 432(d) (8 U.S.C. 1642(d)), by striking “(as defined in section 411(c))” and inserting “(as defined in section 413(a))”;
in section 435 (8 U.S.C. 1645), by striking “(as provided under section 403)”; and
in section 436 (8 U.S.C. 1646)—
by striking “the food stamp program (as defined in section 402(a)(3)(B))” and inserting “the supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.)”; and
by striking “the supplemental security income program (as defined in section 402(a)(3)(A))” and inserting “the Supplemental Security Income Program under title XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.)”.
Qualified noncitizens— Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is amended—
in the title header, by striking “Aliens” and inserting “Noncitizens”;
in the header of section 401—
by striking “Aliens” and inserting “Noncitizens”; and
by striking “qualified aliens” and inserting “qualified noncitizens”;
by striking “qualified alien” each place such term appears and inserting “qualified noncitizen”;
by striking “qualified aliens” each place such term appears and inserting “qualified noncitizens”;
by striking “qualified alien’s” each place such term appears and inserting “qualified noncitizen’s”;
by striking “an alien” each place such term appears and inserting “a noncitizen”;
by striking “alien” each place such term appears and inserting “noncitizen”;
by striking “aliens” each place such term appears and inserting “noncitizens”; and
by striking “alien’s” each place such term appears and inserting “noncitizen’s”.
Access to basic services for lawfully residing noncitizens— Section 431 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641) is amended—
in subsection (b)—
in the header, by striking “qualified alien” and inserting “qualified noncitizen”;
by striking “qualified alien” and inserting “qualified noncitizen”;
by striking “alien” and inserting “noncitizen”;
by striking “an alien” and inserting “a noncitizen”; and
by striking “benefit” and all that follows through the period at the end of the subsection and inserting “benefit, is lawfully present in the United States.”;
in subsection (c)—
in the header, by striking “qualified aliens” and inserting “qualified noncitizens”;
in paragraph (3), by striking “or” after the semicolon;
in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
“(5) a noncitizen—
“(A) in a category that was treated as lawfully present for purposes of section 1101 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 18001);
“(B) who met the requirements of section 402(a)(2)(D) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1612(a)(2)(D)) on or before January 1, 2021;
“(C) who is granted special immigrant juvenile status as described by section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J));
“(D) who has a pending, bona fide application for nonimmigrant status under section 101(a)(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(1)(15)(U));
“(E) who was granted relief under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; or
“(F) any other person who is not a citizen of the United States but who resides in a State or territory of the United States and is federally authorized to be present in the United States.”
by adding at the end the following:
“(d) Noncitizen—In this title, the term noncitizen means any individual who is not a citizen of the United States.”
Child nutrition programs— Section 742 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1615) is amended—
in subsection (a)—
in the header by striking “School lunch and breakfast programs” and inserting “Child nutrition programs”;
by striking “the school lunch program” and inserting “any program”; and
by striking “the school breakfast program under section 4 of the” and inserting “any program under”; and
in subsection (b)(1)—
by striking “Nothing in this Act shall prohibit or require a State to provide to an individual who is not a citizen or a qualified alien, as defined in section 431(b),” and inserting “A State shall not deny”; and
by striking “paragraph (2)” and inserting “paragraph (2) on the basis of an individual’s citizenship or immigration status”.
Exclusion of medical assistance expenditures for citizens of freely associated States— Section 1108(h) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1308(h)) is amended—
by striking “Expenditures” and inserting:
“(1) Expenditures”
by adding at the end the following:
“(2) With respect to eligibility for benefits for the designated Federal program defined in paragraph (3)(C) (relating to the Medicaid program), paragraph (1) shall not apply to any individual who lawfully resides in 1 of the 50 States or the District of Columbia in accordance with the Compacts of Free Association between the Government of the United States and the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau and shall not apply, at the option of the Governor of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa as communicated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services in writing, to any individual who lawfully resides in the respective territory in accordance with such Compacts.”
Child health insurance program— Section 2107(e)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397gg(e)(1)) is amended—
by striking subparagraph (O); and
by redesignating subparagraphs (P), (Q), (R), (S), (T), and (U) as subparagraphs (O), (P), (Q), (R), (S), and (T).
Conforming amendments—
Supplemental food assistance program— The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) is amended—
in section 5 (7 U.S.C. 2014)—
by striking subsection (i); and
by redesignating subsections (j) through (n) as subsections (i) through (m), respectively;
in section 6 (7 U.S.C. 2015)—
in subsection (f), by striking “an alien lawfully admitted for permanent” and all that follows through the end of the subsection and inserting “a noncitizen lawfully present in the United States.”; and
in subsection (s)(2), by striking “(m), and (n)” and inserting “and (m)”; and
in section 11(e)(2)(B)(v)(II) by striking “aliens” each place it appears and inserting “noncitizens”.
in paragraph (1), by striking “admitted for” and all that follows through the end of the paragraph and inserting “present in the United States.”; and
striking paragraph (4).
Housing assistance— Section 214(a) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 1436a(a)) is amended by—
redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively; and
inserting after paragraph (5):
“(6) a qualified noncitizen as defined in section 431 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641);”
Assistance not treated as debt absent fraud— Section 213A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1183a) is amended—
in subsection (a)(3)—
in subparagraph (A), by striking “(as provided under section 403 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996)”; and
in subparagraph (B), in the undesignated matter following clause (ii), by striking “(as provided under section 403 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996)”; and
in subsection (b)(1)(A) is amended by striking “benefit,” and inserting “benefit by fraud,”.
Preserving access to health care— Section 36B(c)(1)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
“(B) Special rule for certain individuals lawfully present in the United States—If—
“(i) a taxpayer has a household income which is not greater than 100 percent of an amount equal to the poverty line for a family of the size involved,
“(ii) the taxpayer is a noncitizen lawfully present in the United States,
“(iii) the taxpayer is ineligible for minimum essential coverage under section 5000A(f)(1)(A)(ii), and
“(iv) under the Medicaid eligibility criteria for noncitizens in effect on December 26, 2020, the taxpayer would be ineligible for such minimum essential coverage by reason of the taxpayer’s immigration status,”
Sec. 3 Federal agency guidance
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, each Federal agency affected by any of the amendments made by this Act shall issue guidance with respect to the implementation of such amendments.