510
Opinion of the Court
programs." 24 Again, it is difficult to see why that concern should be any greater under TANF than under AFDC. The evidence reviewed by the District Court indicates that the savings resulting from the discriminatory policy, if spread equitably throughout the entire program, would have only a miniscule impact on benefit levels. Indeed, as one of the legislators apparently interpreted this concern, it would logically prompt the States to reduce benefit levels sufficiently "to encourage emigration of benefit recipients." 25 But speculation about such an unlikely eventuality provides no basis for upholding § 11450.03.
Finally, the Solicitor General suggests that the State's discrimination might be acceptable if California had limited the disfavored subcategories of new citizens to those who had received aid in their prior State of residence at any time within the year before their arrival in California. The suggestion is ironic for at least three reasons: It would impose the most severe burdens on the neediest members of the disfavored classes; it would significantly reduce the savings that the State would obtain, thus making the State's claimed justification even less tenable; and, it would confine the effect of the statute to what the Solicitor General correctly characterizes as "the invidious purpose of discouraging poor people generally from settling in the State." 26
* * *
Citizens of the United States, whether rich or poor, have the right to choose to be citizens "of the State wherein they
24 Id., at 8. See H. R. Rep. No. 104-651, p. 1337 (1996) ("States that want to pay higher benefits should not be deterred from doing so by the fear that they will attract large numbers of recipients from bordering States").
25 Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 16. See States' Perspective on Welfare Reform: Hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, 104th Cong., 1st Sess., 9 (1995).
26 Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 30, n. 11.
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