mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
we have had a number of debates already on this issue , on the issue of how much money is in this bill and whether it is enough money to fund all of the worthy programs that are out there . 
i suggest to my colleagues there is a place we can easily go and get at least $ 1 billion out of this bill and use it for the other programs that have been so eloquently advocated on this floor . 
my amendment is simple and straightforward . 
it essentially prevents the implementation of section 1011 of the prescription drug bill passed by the congress last year . 
as my colleagues may recall , this is the controversial provision of the law that provided $ 1 billion to cover the health care costs of illegal aliens . 
it is also important to note that many of these states that are incurring these heavy costs and hospitals inside these states that are incurring these costs for treating illegal aliens , some of these states and some of these localities have helped create their own problems . 
in many cases , they have taken steps to make themselves magnets for illegal immigration . 
these health care costs are now burdened by permitting them to obtain driver 's license , enroll in institutions , and luckily we stopped the driver 's license part , enroll in institutions of higher education at in-state rates , and obtain public services through the use of consular id cards . 
so a lot of the burden , as i say , they have brought upon themselves . 
but nonetheless , we have gone the next step , then , and we have written regulations . 
we promulgated regulations and rules designed to implement section 1011 , and they certainly fall short of establishing any meaningful accountability for the money , and more importantly , they do not require information sharing with homeland security . 
as a matter of fact , on the final page of the payment determination form , it says patients should be aware that the department of homeland security will not access or use information related to medical care to initiate enforcement of united states immigration laws unrelated to an ongoing terrorism or criminal investigation . 
there is another part of these regulations that , frankly , i do not recall us debating it when the original amendment was proposed to the medicare and prescription drug bill . 
that is one that now allows for not only people who are here illegally to be given services under this act , but people who are here with the 72-hour border crossing card . 
in 2002 , as i recall , as i have been told , there were already 5 million of these border crossing cards that had been issued . 
five million people , mostly , in fact i think entirely , mexican nationals , are now also eligible for reimbursement under this act , under this section , if they come across the border and choose to access the hospitals in those border states . 
again , i do not recall that was part of the original debate , but that is part of the regulations that have been promulgated . 
it is a sad irony that many of the americans who are being asked to cough up to this $ 1 billion to fund health care costs for illegal aliens and for nationals of another country do not oftentimes have enough money to buy health insurance themselves . 
this is a bad giveaway for taxpayers . 
it sends the wrong message to illegal aliens and americans alike . 
it comes at far too high a price . 
it was wrong when it was passed . 
it is wrong today . 
i hope my colleagues will support the amendment and help save the american taxpayers $ 1 billion . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
