Chong Yia Yang v. California Department of Social Services

Plaintiff and appellant Chong Yia Yang (“Plaintiff’), a Laotian Hmong who fought in the Vietnam War on behalf of the United States and was subsequently admitted to the United States and granted permanent resident status, brought suit against the California Department of Social Services (“DSS”), DSS Director Eloise Anderson, the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), and USDA Secretary Dan Glickman (collectively “Defendants”), after his food stamp benefits were terminated pursuant to the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. 1 Plaintiff contends that section 5566(b) of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 restored food stamp benefits to Hmong veterans through its provision stating that it was “the sense of Congress” that Hmong veterans lawfully admitted to the United States should be excepted from certain limitations on welfare benefits imposed by the Welfare Reform Act. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm on the basis that section 5566(b) is merely a precatory sense of Congress provision, not amounting to positive, enforceable law.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Until the passage of the…