As for the bills you mentioned, were they passed and signed into law?

Under laws like the one you listed for SSI assistance for special needs children, it has been subject to a great deal of abuse. While no one opposes assistance for the truly disabled, SSI has been known on the streets as "crazy money".

In Decatur, Illinois, an elementary school principal told the local newspaper about a mother and her three children who receive $1,736 a month in SSI payments. The children, who are supposedly disabled, go to regular classes and participate in routine physical activities. The principal said that SSI is known on the streets as "crazy money," because you have to act crazy to get it. Applicants even send "ringers" (disabled children who stand in for applicants) to SSI exams.(38)

Teachers now complain that students increasingly and deliberately disrupt class or abuse instructors or classmates to establish and maintain eligibility for SSI benefits. The HHS inspector general has testified that "we have identified some children whose disability and subsequent eligibility is questionable."(39)

Those circumstances may help explain why the childhood disability rolls have expanded. In 1989 there were 296,300 disabled children on SSI, at a cost of $1.2 billion. By the end of 1994 their numbers had more than tripled to almost 900,000, at an approximate cost of $4.5 billion.(40) The increase is partly attributable to the Supreme Court's decision in Zebley in 1990, which expanded eligibility criteria for children. Before Zebley the disability benefits for children were restricted to certain standard medical impairments. In Zebley the Supreme Court ruled that children, like adults, must be individually assessed to determine whether their overall level of functioning indicates that they are disabled. As a result, all low-income children who do not function at an "age-appropriate" level are eligible for SSI. Zebley forced a review of 450,000 prior cases, and SSI awards are being made in about one- third of them.(41)

New medical standards for childhood mental impairments have produced even more awards than has the Zebley case.(42) Adopted in 1990, the new regulations emphasize nonmedical, functional criteria such as social, communication, and cognitive skills. The new standards also added several syndromes to the listings, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, mood disorders, and personality disorders.(43) Some childhood mental impairments have been disputed, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.(44) Awards based on disorders broadly termed "behavioral problems" are an increasing percentage of all childhood mental impairment awards, whereas mental retardation is declining as a percentage.(45)

While Kerry's intentions were no doubt good, it appears the legislation you listed was poorly written.