United States HR 9667: Securing Healthcare and Income Entitlements for Lawfully Domiciled Citizens (SHIELD Citizens) Act

Summary

This bill restricts eligibility for federal welfare programs—including food assistance, Medicaid, housing assistance, and other benefits—to U.S. citizens only, eliminating eligibility for non-citizens who currently qualify under existing law. The bill affects non-citizens who receive or could receive federal benefits, with current recipients given up to 180 days after the law takes effect to transition off these programs. Emergency medical care, disaster relief, and certain other services would remain available to non-citizens.

Bill Text

I 
119THCONGRESS 
2
DSESSION 
H. R. 9667 
To  amend  the  Personal  Responsibility  and  Work  Opportunity  Reconciliation  
Act  of  1996  to  restrict  eligibility  for  Federal  welfare  programs  to  citizens  
of the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  
JULY14, 2026 
Mr.  F
ULLER(for  himself,  Mr.  CARTERof  Georgia,  and  Mr.  MCCORMICK)  in-
troduced  the  following  bill;  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Ways  
and  Means,  and  in  addition  to  the  Committees  on  Energy  and  Commerce,  
Financial  Services,  Education  and  Workforce,  and  Agriculture,  for  a  pe-
riod  to  be  subsequently  determined  by  the  Speaker,  in  each  case  for  con-
sideration  of  such  provisions  as  fall  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  com-
mittee concerned 
A  BILL  
To  amend  the  Personal  Responsibility  and  Work  Opportunity  
Reconciliation  Act  of  1996  to  restrict  eligibility  for  Fed-
eral  welfare  programs  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  
and for other purposes. 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This  Act  may  be  cited  as  the  ‘‘Securing  Healthcare  4
and  Income  Entitlements  for  Lawfully  Domiciled  Citizens  5
(SHIELD Citizens) Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1)  Section  400  of  the  Personal  Responsibility  3
and  Work  Opportunity  Reconciliation  Act  of  1996,  4
signed  into  law  by  Bill  Clinton,  declares  it  a  policy  5
of  the  United  States  that  noncitizens  should  not  de-6
pend  on  public  resources  to  meet  their  needs,  and  7
that  the  availability  of  public  benefits  should  not  8
constitute   an   incentive   for   immigration   to   the   9
United States. 10
(2)  Notwithstanding  that  policy,  there  are  sev-11
eral  areas  where  welfare  benefits  are  made  available  12
to noncitizens. 13
(3)  Congress  intends  by  this  Act  to  close  that  14
eligibility  to  all  noncitizens,  so  that  Federal  welfare  15
programs  are  available  only  to  citizens  of  the  United  16
States. 17
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 18
In this Act: 19
(1)  F
EDERAL   WELFARE   PROGRAM.—The  term  20
‘‘Federal  welfare  program’’  means  any  of  the  fol-21
lowing, and any successor program: 22
(A)  The  temporary  assistance  for  needy  23
families  program  under  part  A  of  title  IV  of  the  24
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 25
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•HR  9667  IH
(B)  The  supplemental  nutrition  assistance  1
program  under  the  Food  and  Nutrition  Act  of  2
2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.). 3
(C)  The  supplemental  security  income  pro-4
gram  under  title  XVI  of  the  Social  Security  Act  5
(42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.). 6
(D) The Medicaid program under title XIX 7
of  the  Social  Security  Act  (42  U.S.C.  1396  et  8
seq.). 9
(E)  Federal  housing  assistance,  including  10
under  section  8  of  the  United  States  Housing  11
Act  of  1937  (42  U.S.C.  1437f)  and  other  feder-12
ally   funded   public   or   assisted   housing   pro-13
grams. 14
(F)   The   special   supplemental   nutrition   15
program   for   women,   infants,   and   children   16
(WIC)  under  section  17  of  the  Child  Nutrition  17
Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786). 18
(G)  The  low-income  home  energy  assist-19
ance  program  under  the  Low-Income  Home  En-20
ergy  Assistance  Act  of  1981  (42  U.S.C.  8621  et  21
seq.). 22
(H)  Any  other  federally  funded  cash,  food,  23
housing,  medical,  or  energy  assistance  program  24
for  individuals  or  households  that  the  head  of  25
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•HR  9667  IH
the  administering  agency  designates  by  regula-1
tion  as  a  ‘‘Federal  welfare  program’’  for  pur-2
poses of this Act. 3
(2)  C
ITIZEN.—The  term  ‘‘citizen’’  means  a  cit-4
izen  or  national  of  the  United  States,  as  defined  in  5
section  101(a)  of  the  Immigration  and  Nationality  6
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)). 7
SEC.  4.  CITIZENSHIP  REQUIREMENT  FOR  FEDERAL  WEL-8
FARE PROGRAMS. 9
(a)  I
NGENERAL.—Section  401  of  the  Personal  Re-10
sponsibility  and  Work  Opportunity  Reconciliation  Act  of  11
1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611) is amended— 12
(1)  in  the  section  heading,  by  striking  ‘‘aliens  13
who  are  not  qualified  aliens’’  and  inserting  ‘‘individ-14
uals who are not citizens’’; an