White House citizenship view bends to Heller’s

White House citizenship view bends to Heller’s
By Lisa Mascaro (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009 | 2 a.m.




Washington — Republican Rep. Dean Heller’s 15 minutes of fame has just been extended.

Heller became a darling of the conservative blogosphere after attempting, and failing, to pass an amendment to the House health care bill that would require a citizenship verification system to deny illegal immigrants access to government-funded care.

The amendment was shot down in the House Ways and Means Committee because, Heller’s opponents say, the bill already bans undocumented immigrants from accessing the subsidies that would be offered to lower-income households to buy health insurance on a new exchange. The bill also requires that a citizenship verification system be established, with the details left to federal health officials over the next several years as the new insurance exchange comes online.

Now it turns out the White House is insisting a citizenship verification system be in place from the outset.

The White House appears less motivated by Heller’s work on the issue than by that of his fellow Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, who shouted “You Lie!â€

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An effort to clamp down on illegal immigrants who are gaming the system in 2005 proved less fruitful than predicted. Congress at the time passed a tough new citizenship documentation requirement, mandating the Medicaid recipients show proof of citizenship — a birth certificate, passport or such. Hopes were high that as much as $90 million could be saved by cutting more than 50,000 illegal immigrants from the rolls.

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DOH! It failed because they did not verify the legal status of PARENTS of anchor babies! If I want to get SCHIP for my kids, I have to verify MY income, not my kids incomes. It's a huge joke is what this is.