Thread: Illegal immigration issue threatens healthcare vote

If this is a dup, please delete.
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The Hill
Illegal immigration issue threatens healthcare vote
By Jared Allen - 11/05/09 07:38 PM ET

The illegal immigration issue is emerging as the biggest threat to passing healthcare reform in the House.

Congressional Hispanics have threatened to vote against the bill because of a last-minute threat from within the Democratic Caucus to bolster the House bill’s immigration restrictions to match those included in the Senate Finance bill.

And they’re also fighting President Barack Obama, the original sponsor of the language prohibiting illegal immigrants from accessing the public health insurance exchange.

On Thursday afternoon, four leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) traveled to the White House to meet with Obama on behalf of the entire group.

Officially, the purpose of their meeting was to talk to the president about healthcare.

But CHC members, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the group’s message was clear: Drop your insistence on preventing illegal immigrants from accessing the public exchange, even if their only option is to pay for insurance plans entirely out of their own pockets.

A public exchange is a nationwide pool of health insurance providers that would facilitate access to coverage for individuals and employers.

Obama has promoted the concept as a key component of healthcare reform.

The House healthcare bill already bars illegal immigrants from enrolling in the public option and from receiving subsidies for health plans.

But if the final Senate healthcare bill contains the exchange-prohibition provision that’s in the Finance Committee bill, the provision could also be included in a conference report.

And CHC members have said publicly that they would have a very difficult time voting for any healthcare bill that contained such a provision.

“I am concerned about the manner in which the exchange has been characterized, and I understand the politics of it,â€

Let's pray that this horrible bill doesn't go through.

This needs to go on our homepage. If a homepage team member does not get this up, someone please remind me tomorrow. too exhausted right now.

W

Just Kill the Bill. We don't want it, get it? JUST KILL THE BILL!

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This needs to go on our homepage. If a homepage team member does not get this up, someone please remind me tomorrow. too exhausted right now.

W

Will do it tonight W.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4666--0-0.html

Well, not surprisingly it looks like Obama caved. Roy Beck has just blogged about this on Numbers.

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusab ... althcare-p

Well, that should kill the bill for sure. Americans do not want illegal aliens to have any access whatsoever to health care in the US as part of this reform, emergency medical only, which they already have which is all they need until they're deported out of here.

Here is the story for our members who do not want to click on source links.

House Rules Comm. Caving to Hispanic Caucus -- Illegals Allowed in Healthcare Plan


By Roy Beck, Thursday, November 5, 2009, 9:41 PM EST - posted on NumbersUSA

The Associated Press has just reported that, after the Hispanic Caucus confronted Pres. Obama at the White House this afternoon, the chair of the House Rules Committee indicated she is giving the Caucus what it wants:

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) indicated that the House will have to vote on a bill that allows illegal aliens to use the new healthcare "exchange" and that does not require verification to keep illegal aliens out of the other parts of the the proposed new federal healthcare system.

As I reported in my blog earlier today, the Hispanic Caucus sent leaders to the White House to berate Pres. Obama for his insistence that illegal aliens not be included in any of the proposed healthcare.

The Hispanic Caucus was especially adament that illegal immigrants be allowed to use their own money to purchase health coverage in a new government-run "exchange."

He listened to us. We listened to him," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "We made it very clear that 20 votes in the Hispanic caucus" depend on the language in the House bill.

Currently, there is no prohibition in the House bill against illegal immigrants buying insurance in the exchange, but the White House backs such a ban and one exists in the Senate bill.

"I think that he got our message," Velazquez said.

-- Associated Press

Basically, Obama and Senate leaders are trying to fulfill Pres. Obama's promise to the American people that no illegal aliens will participate in any part of the new plan.

But the Hispanic Caucus is saying it will vote against any bill that does that. At the moment, Speaker Pelosi has no way to get 218 votes to pass the bill without the Hispanic Caucus. But -- as I described in my blog earlier today -- we must ensure that the bill would be killed by a sufficient number of moderate Democrats who will refuse to vote for the bill unless it has the bans on illegal aliens.

The Representatives drawing their line in the White House sand were Rep. Veazquez (D-N.Y.), Rep. Lucille Royal-Allard (D-Calif.), Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)

This AP story that just came out contains this bombshell:

House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said later that she did not believe there would be any change to the House bill on immigration.

-- Associated Press

There is a huge amount of implication in that sentence.

The bill as it now stands has gigantic loopholes that allow illegal aliens to use all parts of a new federal healthcare program.

If Chairwoman Slaughter is saying the Hispanic Caucus is getting its way and that no changes on immigration are being made, that means NumbersUSA will call on all Members of the U.S. House to vote NO on the rule on the bill, which would keep it from coming to the floor for a vote.

NumbersUSA deals only with immigration. We do not take any kind of position on the healthcare bill itself.

But if the bill comes to the floor with all these loopholes for illegal aliens, we most certainly are urging all Members to vote NO on the rule.

Also added the above to the Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4667--0-0.html