mr. chairman , i offer an amendment to prohibit any funds from being spent by the department of education in violation of current federal law . 
according to existing federal law , any state providing illegal aliens in-state tuition discounts must provide these discounts to all students , regardless of state of residence . 
section 505 of the illegal immigration reform and responsibility act of 1996 clearly states that : `` notwithstanding any other provision of law , an alien who is not lawfully present in the united states shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state ( or a political subdivision ) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the united states is eligible for such a benefit ( in no less an amount , duration , and scope ) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident. '' my amendment simply seeks to enforce existing law . 
not only is providing in-state tuition to illegal aliens against the law , it would also place a huge financial burden on our society . 
the costs to states of providing in-state tuition to illegal aliens throughout the u.s. help illustrate the high cost of these measures . 
approximately 126 , 000 illegal aliens under 21 were enrolled in college in the year 2000 . 
at non-resident tuition rates , they would pay between $ 503 million and $ 655 million annually . 
if they were made eligible for in-state tuition discounts , they would pay only $ 155 million to $ 201 million -- leaving taxpayers to make up the difference of $ 349 million to $ 454 million . 
given the fiscal constraints our nation is currently under , no good reason exists to spend additional money to give tuition discounts to illegal aliens . 
as public universities across the country increasingly limit enrollment increasing the intake of illegal aliens into these schools will mean fewer opportunities and less aid for united states citizens and legal immigrants . 
this will also result in greater expense to the state taxpayers . 
out-of-state tuition is typically two to three-and-a-half times higher than in-state tuition . 
the revenue lost as a result of providing in-state tuition to illegal aliens would have to be paid for by someone . 
finally , giving special treatment to illegal aliens is fundamentally unjust to legal immigrants who have invested a great deal to comply with our immigration laws or obtain legal citizenship . 
we should not reward those who have broken our immigration laws with the same benefits as those who have made an effort to respect the law . 
this measure is a fundamentally unjust and expensive attempt to integrate illegal aliens into our state and federally funded higher education systems . 
please join me in supporting this amendment to enforce existing law and avoid rewarding law-breakers . 
