Desperate to shirk blame for the ongoing government shutdown, Democrats are now attempting to muddy the waters around their efforts to restore taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens. But the facts are not on their side, and even liberals’ erstwhile allies in the corporate media have been unable to throw them a political lifeline.
As their price for providing the Senate votes to reopen the government, Democrats are demanding that Republicans reverse Medicaid reforms in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) that President Donald Trump signed into law this July. That legislation closed glaring loopholes in the program which allowed illegal aliens to enjoy taxpayer-funded healthcare and other benefits that should be reserved for American citizens.
Specifically, the Democrat continuing resolution that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are demanding the GOP pass repeals Sec. 71109 of the OBBB, titled “Alien Medicaid Eligibility.” That provision restricts Medicaid eligibility to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and a few other small groups.
Previously, Medicaid benefits were available to a shockingly broad set of “qualified aliens,” including parolees and asylum seekers. The Biden administration engaged in the most egregious abuse of the asylum system in American history, granting that status to millions of people who did not meet the requirements. As a result, this “qualified aliens” language meant that vast swaths of the 10-20 million people who crossed the border illegally during the Biden years could have applied for and received Medicaid – putting immense stress on the program and preventing American citizens from accessing the care they are entitled to.
Sections 71110, 71201, 71303, and 71302 of the OBBB make similar changes to ensure that taxpayer funds for emergency room visits, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act plans do not go to illegal aliens. Democrats are now demanding that Republicans repeal these provisions as well.
As the political pressure ramps up, Democrats are simply insisting that Republicans are lying. “Not a single federal dollar goes to providing health insurance for undocumented immigrants. NOT. ONE. PENNY,” Schumer posted on X on Monday, just before the shutdown commenced. “Republicans would rather lie and shut down the government than protect your health care.”
But as Center for Renewing America Senior Advisor Wade Miller succinctly explained in a post responding to Schumer, it is Democrats who are being dishonest about taxpayer benefits for illegal aliens.
“Here is how it works,” Miller wrote. “Federal dollars go to a Democrat state for healthcare, and since money is fungible, they then move state dollars over to fund illegals, which is made possible by federal dollars filling the gap where state dollars should be going.”
In a separate post, JD Vance continued to school Democrats on fungibility. “Consider, for instance, two state Medicaid programs – Ohio and New York. New York gives Medicaid to illegals and Ohio doesn’t. When the government gives billions of dollars to New York for Medicaid, that frees up state money in New York that can then be spent on illegals.”
“It’s like if you give a mobster $100 but he PROMISES you he won’t spend the money to buy a gun and commit a crime,” Vance continues. “Well, he takes the $100 you gave him and buys food, and then takes the money he would have spent on food and uses that money to buy the gun instead. This is what ‘money is fungible’ means.”
Democrats’ dishonesty on their burning desire to funnel taxpayer dollars to illegals is so outrageous that even the liberal media can’t cover for it.
During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Jeffries again stated that the notion that Democrats want to provide Medicaid to illegal aliens is a “lie.” But Tapper quickly shot back that “what you support does bring back funding for emergency Medicaid to hospitals, some of which does pay for undocumented immigrants and people who don’t have health insurance.”
“Why even include that in a bill, knowing that they’re going to seize right upon that and use that to message?” Tapper asked. “I understand that when you retake the House, you can get whatever you want passed, but at this point?” Jeffries had no coherent answer.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was the next Democrat up to try to explain why her party is keeping the government shut to demand taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens. During an appearance on CBS with Tony Dokoupil, she went ballistic when presented with the exact language of Democrats’ bill, refusing to even allow Dokoupil to complete his question and calling it a “flat out lie.”
“Politically, putting that in there, exposes you to this talking point,” Dokoupil noted, echoing Tapper. “Why put it in there? Why is it worth it?” Like Jeffries, Warren deflected.
Democrats clearly recognize that what they are proposing is deeply unpopular with the American public, and even with most Democrat voters. But they are caught in a bind because handing out taxpayer dollars to illegal aliens remains a policy that elected Democrats and the progressive base are deeply committed to. Their position, as they have stated so many times, is that healthcare is a “human right.”
A resurfaced clip from 2020 now making the rounds on social media provides all the evidence Americans need for where Democrats truly stand. During the first primary debate on NBC, every single participant on stage raised their hand to confirm that they support providing taxpayer-funded healthcare for “undocumented immigrants.”
For Democrats, every policy fight – including the current shutdown – has become about how much money they can smuggle to their favored groups, chief among them illegal aliens. That is why they have refused to vote for the exact same funding levels they voted for in March and voted for 13 times when Biden was in office.
Now Democrats want Republicans and President Trump to be their co-conspirators in selling out and betraying the American people. That’s what this shutdown ultimately comes down to, and why Democrats are entirely to blame for whatever negative consequences result from it.
Shane Harris is the Editor in Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
Read the full article here