GOP Congressmen Mislead Again: ‘Millions’ Of ‘Criminal Illegal Aliens’ Will Receive Health Care
GOP Congressmen Mislead Again: ‘Millions’ Of ‘Criminal Illegal Aliens’ Will Receive Health Care
Yesterday, three Republican congressmen continued spreading the poorly fabricated myth that “criminal illegal aliens” will be covered by America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, despite the fact that the bill excludes undocumented immigrants from receiving federal funds to buy health insurance from either a private or government plan.
Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) and Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) relied on fear and misinformation to garner opposition to both immigration and health care reform to essentially kill two birds with one stone:
AKIN: If before we had trouble with people coming here illegally, if we give them free health insurance and health coverage that’s going to make it more attractive for them to come. So if you don’t like illegal immigration, then you’re not going to like this bill either…
BROUN: We don’t know how many illegal aliens are here — they’re not immigrants — they’re aliens. They’ve committed crimes, so they’re criminals…they’re guilty of many law infractions. This health care plan, Obamacare, is going to give every single one of those illegal aliens health insurance at the cost of taxpayers.
Akin and Broun apparently overlooked the section of the House’s health care bill that reads:
“Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
They also should’ve done some research before rattling on about immigration. The global economic recession has shown more than ever that the labor market, not health care, drives migration. Even if foreigners are under the false impression that undocumented immigrants in the US are receiving health care, in most cases it’s not going to be the reason they drop everything and leave.
Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) took a slightly less antagonistic approach:
AKIN: Is this bill going to give illegal immigrants health care?
FLEMING: About 10 million…that’s 10 million people who either should be here legally and then paying into the system and paying their way or they should go back home because they’re here illegally to begin with and that would not be a cost or a burden.
Though Fleming apparently didn’t coordinate with his colleague Rep. Steve King (R-IA) who put the number at 5.6 million yesterday, he provided a reasonable suggestion. That is, requiring all those in the country illegally to fix their status so that Republicans can stop using the immigration issue to drive a wedge through policy proposals they don’t like. Most undocumented immigrants actually do pay taxes, but maybe passing comprehensive immigration reform would force the “whacko wing” of the GOP to finally stop griping and grumbling about “illegal aliens” and start focusing on solving the issues at hand. Meanwhile, a policy designed to send 10 million undocumented immigrants “back home” would cost taxpayers at least $206 billion over five years, or $41.2 billion annually.
Watch it:
3 Responses to “GOP Congressmen Mislead Again: ‘Millions’ Of ‘Criminal Illegal Aliens’ Will Receive Health Care”
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FRAUD & ABUSE: EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT BY UNLAWFUL IMMIGRANTS
http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty478.htm
Your U.S. Congress participates in and supports one of THE most fraudulent taxpayer abuse schemes ever concocted within the Federal Government. It’s time the administration put its foot down rather than allow millions of unlawful immigrants to step onto American soil—while soaking billions out of the U.S. Treasury.
Since the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) became part of the income tax code in 1975, it has quietly become the largest cash transfer program in the United States. At a cost of more than $44 billion per year, EITC spending dwarfs that of the traditional welfare program—Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)—and nd food stamps combined. More than 23 million households currently receive the credit.
Edwin Rubenstein exposed one of the most dramatic tax frauds ever on the American taxpayer: “Defrauding the American taxpayer,” Volume 19, Number 3, spring 2009, http://www.thesocialcontract.com, “The Earned Income Tax Credit and Illegal Immigration – A Study in Fraud, Abuse, and Liberal Activism.”
“From 1985 to 2006, EITC payments grew from $2.1 billion to $44.4 billion, or by an eye-popping 2,014 percent,” Rubenstein said. “Total federal income tax revenues rose by 217 percent over that same period. Similarly, the number of returns claiming the EITC rose from 6.4 million to 23 million—an increase of 255 percent—over a perperiod when the total number of federal income tax returns increased by 36 percent.
“More than one in four immigrant households received the EITC in 2000—nearly twice the 13.2 percent rate of houuseholds headed by Native Americans. And because immigrant households are larger via higher fertility, their EITC payments are larger than those received by native households.
“Bottom line: Immigrants accounted for about 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2008 but receive an estimated 26 percent of EITC benefits—about $12 billion.”
The most distressing aspect of EITC stems from unlawful immigrants tapping into the program on a massive scale. For example, in Greeley, Colorado this year, district attorney Buck Young raided a tax filing agency to find over 1,000 fraudulent returns by unlawful workers. While they paid little or nothing in taxes, they received hundreds of thousands in bogus returns. That same scam multiplies all over the country.
“Tax relief” goes to people who never paid a cent in taxes, and may have already defrauded the government of huge sums each year. “EITC scams are common, well-organized, and massive,” Rubenstein writes in the report. EITC ranks second out of 57 government programs in fraudulent payments.
“But enthusiasm for the credit has blinded policy makers to its problems. The EITC program is dominated by fraud. Year after year about one-third of all EITC returns are based on illegal multiple returns, phony Social Security numbers, or claims of non-existent children or spouses. A disproportionate share of illegal alien households receives the benefit.
“Washington’s love affair with the EITC has allowed the minimum wage to decline in real value. Native workers have suffered as a result. So have labor unions. In effect, the EITC subsidizes employers who hire low-wage immigrants and reject equally qualified natives. No one should be surprised; therefore, that Wal-mart, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and most liberal activist groups are major EITC supporters.
“For most poor families, the tax credit check is the largest single sum of money they will receive during the year. Most receive it after filing income taxes. But some need the money immediately, and they can get it—for a price. A niche financial sector thrives by leending EITC recipients immediate cash in return for a hefty chunk of their credit check. The cost to the poor of these so-called Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) has been estimated at 6 percent of the entire EITC program.
“Widespread availability of high-interest RALs made poor borrowers easy marks for sub-prime mortgage hucksters. The resulting defaults have pushed the entire economy to the brink of collapse. While the sub-prime story is well known, few are aware of the EITC’s role in introducing the poor to the culture of debt.”
Has the EITC lived up to its hype? In answering this, consider the following:
The EITC originated as an anti-poverty program; the number of the returns claiming EITC benefits rose 25 times faster than the poverty population over the past two decades.
EITC benefits rise sharply with parenthood; poverty rates for families with children have risen faster than those for childless families since the credit was created.
The EITC is the most illegal-immigrant friendly of poverty programs; illegal immigrants constitute a far larger share of the poverty population now.
Implication: The EITC is a textbook case of unintended consequences. Our economic meltdown may be among them.
“The current federal EITC provides large benefits to families with children, mostly single mothers, and minimal benefits to singles, even though declining wages have affected all low-income workers. These disparities create disincentives to work in the formal labor market and for poor men and women to marry, cohabitate, and co-parent,” said Rubenstein. “President Obama’s stimulus package increased EITC payments by $600 for poor families with three or more children, while leaving the program’s perverse disincentives intact. This will merely exacerbate the credit’s bias against work and marriage.”
“The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the largest anti-poverty program in the United States – and the most illegal-immigrant friendly,” explains Edwin Rubenstein, author of the new report. “In 2007, more than 23 million households received more than $47 billion in the EITC payments.”
Finally, “The EITC is the most accessible of the major entitlement programs and used by more people than food stamps and welfare (TANF)* combined. A related tax credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) is available to illegal immigrants even if they do not have a valid Social Security number.”
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:02 pmDoesn’t this nativist tactic ever get old?
How long will voters fall for this?
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:04 pmILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS CORPORATE WELFARE?
The injury court case of Luis Jimenez, an illegal alien from Guatemala, who was a patient at the Martin Memorial Medical Center in South Florida, will have far reaching impact, regarding mandated laws. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (42 U.S.C. § 1395dd, EMTALA) is a United States Act of Congress passed in 1986. Hospital and ambulance services must impart care to anyone needing emergency treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay.
The only problem with this is that this federal mandated law never pays the full amount to the institution, if any? So the hospital passes it on to other patients, the insurance company, which once again the costs fall on the taxpayer. Whoever this individual was working for at the time of his accident, should be forced to pay part or all hospital services. Jimenez’s lawsuit seeks nearly $1 million to cover the estimated lifetime costs of his care in Guatemala, because the hospital tried to relieve them of the financial burden.
The hospital spent more than $1.5 million on his care, over three years of treatment for his brain damage. If Washington pushes a Path to Citizenship, we can expect spiraling costs for the 20 plus million of legalized person who is already in our sovereign nation. I myself want an alternative to the corruption and greed, shown by insurance companies, which is a government run agency.
By enactment Immigration of reform, millions will demand health care, Pensions, retirement and a rush on government benefits. For those who haven’t already cheated the system, will be a major catastrophe for every taxpayer. On being given a green card they can immediately sponsor their family members. Once here, they can immediately place the burden of sick, handicapped and those with mental disorders, in the hands of welfare services.
WE should then be prepared to receive millions of more illegal aliens, who have absconded from their own country, to take advantage of US taxpayers. All Americans should watch this court case carefully, because the implications are sky high taxes. Clogged health care services, education for every child and section 8 housing, along with every benefit, citizens and permanent residents have no knowledge of; will be the absolute outcome of Obama’s AMNESTY. Get on the phone and tell your politician, you support THE SAVE ACT . Support for the bi-partisan SAVE Act, which will expand E-Verify and protect American jobs! Focuses on the heart of the problem-the jobs that attract illegal aliens. It would phase in a requirement for every employer to use the electronic verification system. NUMBERSUSA, AMERICANPATROL
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm