EXCLUSIVE: Republicans Rip Biden Admin For Providing Taxpayer-Funded Healthcare To Illegal Immigrants



HENRY RODGERS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
May 03, 2024 1:39 PM ET

Republicans in Congress are slamming the Biden Administration after news broke Friday that they will provide taxpayer-funded healthcare through Obamacare exchanges to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

In exclusive comments to the Daily Caller, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen criticized the decision, saying it is unfair to U.S. citizens.

“There’s an unprecedented crisis at our southern border, we’ve got major conflicts around the world, and families all across Ohio are getting crushed by inflation. Joe Biden’s response to all this is to give your hard-earned money away to illegal immigrants in the form of taxpayer-funded healthcare. This is a slap in the face to every hardworking American who plays by the rules, and it would never happen if Donald Trump were president,” Vance told the Caller.

In July, Vance and a group of House Republicans sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, calling on the agency to bar illegal immigrants from being able to use Obamacare. In the letter, the lawmakers from both chambers hammered the Biden Administration for issuing a proposed rule that would redefine “lawfully present” in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to include beneficiaries of the DACA program.

The proposed rule would make beneficiaries of the program — who arrived in the United States illegally but were under the age of 16 — eligible for a number of different health programs.

“Joe Biden, once again, is putting working Americans last and continues to incentivize more illegal immigration into the country. It’s a shameful pattern that’s becoming the legacy of his presidency,” Hawley told the Caller.



U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questions Michael Arthur Delaney during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to become United States Circuit judge for the First Circuit on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

The Biden administration announced Friday that it finalized a rule that would extend Obamacare to thousands of illegal immigrants covered under DACA. The rule will now give more than 100,000 of those “dreamers” health insurance by modifying the definition of “lawfully present,” which previously prohibited those DACA recipients from accessing such care, the Washington Post reported.

“President Biden has allowed more than nine million illegal aliens to invade our country and now he wants illegals to receive Obamacare benefits in a brazen attempt to buy votes. Last July, Senator Vance and I introduced the No Obamacare for Illegal Aliens Act, which would undo this misguided rule that is expected to cost the American taxpayer more than $100 million in the first year alone. We are more than $34 trillion in debt and inflation is crushing American families. The last thing Americans want is to be forced to cover the cost of healthcare for illegal immigrants,” Breechen said.

During the Democratic presidential primary, Joe Biden and every other candidate pledged they would extend taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage to illegal immigrants.

https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/03/e...al-immigrants/