Louisiana Senator Says Health Care Reform Will Benefit Undocumented Immigrants Because ‘It Always Does’
Louisiana Senator Says Health Care Reform Will Benefit Undocumented Immigrants Because ‘It Always Does’
At a town hall meeting in Louisiana, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) promoted the myth that undocumented immigrants will reap the benefits of health care reform by reasoning that “they always do.” He also proclaimed that what the nation is really facing is an immigration enforcement problem (as opposed to a health care problem) because “a quarter” of the “45 or 48 million” who are uninsured in the US are undocumented immigrants:
“There’s nothing in the bill that says it covers illegal aliens. Under the four corners of the bill it does not. But guess what? There’s nothing in all of these other benefit programs that says it goes to illegals either. And in practice it absolutely does, it always does. It always does.
Furthermore, now when the other side talks about 45, 48 million uninsured, a full quarter of that figure — one quarter — are illegal aliens. Now I’ll be God-honest with ya, I think that’s the problem. But I think that’s a law enforcement problem, not a health insurance problem.“
Watch it:
Vitter’s claim that undocumented immigrants will receive health care benefits under a bill that excludes them simply because “they always do” is completely ludicrous. Most legal immigrants have difficulty accessing the few public benefits they are even qualified to receive. That’s because of the many obstacles created by stringent verification requirements which serve as barriers for eligible immigrants and US citizens alike. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act prohibited undocumented immigrants from being eligible for most public benefits, restricted the eligibility of legal immigrants, and codified procedures for verifying elgibility in a way that guaranteed that almost no immigrant would slip through cracks in theory and in practice. In the case of Medicaid, citizenship requirements led to thousands of Americans being denied or losing coverage, new administrative costs that “far exceeded the savings” by millions of dollars, and only a small handful of undocumented immigrants were caught all within the first two years alone.
Simple math shows that even if you eliminate a quarter of 45 million from the total number of uninsured, that still leaves over 33 million citizens and legal US residents without health insurance. The fact that Vitter is willing to sidestep a situation in which millions of Americans are dying or going broke without health insurance and instead focus on harshly enforcing our immigration laws says a lot about Vitter’s ability to effectively serve the American people. Vitter has dedicated more of his political career to making life harder for immigrants than he’s devoted to improving the lives of Americans. After helping to derail comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, Vitter introduced English-only legislation that would have terminated language assistance at voting booths and federal agencies and was the only Senator who opposed the removal of the HIV travel and immigration ban. Vitter has also proposed legislation to overturn the 14th Amendment and the US-born children of undocumented immigrants citizenship.
6 Responses to “Louisiana Senator Says Health Care Reform Will Benefit Undocumented Immigrants Because ‘It Always Does’”
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September 4th, 2009 at 5:21 pmSen. Edward Kennedy R.I.P.was a major sponsor of the 1986 (IRCA) immigration act, that strengthened importation, allowing cheap labor into our country, including the fact he promised–NO MORE AMNESTIES. America has no chance of passing a worthwhile public option for health care, because we will also be paying for illegal aliens along with their families. The bill has no restriction in the wording to authenticate a persons legal status. Personally, I want a single payer system to stop the profiteering by insurance companies, but I don’t want to be taxed for underwriting illegal immigrants and their families? Even if they add an amendment declining illegal immigrants from the health care bill, they will still be included if the Democrats enact another path to citizenship?
Then what about the others on the opposite side of our weak fence, they will hear the Amnesty bell chiming and rush for the border, or enter as tourists in an airport. I repeat we cannot even look after our own impoverished and homeless, even many veterans live under bridges. Pandering to foreign nationals legislators have ignored our aging infrastructure, our bridges, roads and tunnels. Call up the politicians you voted for at 202-224-3121 and tell them NO MORE AMNESTIES!. YES TO A PERMANENT E-VERIFY! BUILD THE ORIGINAL TWO-TIER FENCE! ENFORCE THE 1986 (IRCA) IMMIGRATION LAW THAT’S ON THE BOOKS. DON’T OVERPOPULATE AMERICA!
Finding out about E-Verification, 287 G local police arrest , No-Match-Letters, 1986 Simpson/Mazzoli bill, and other immigration enforcement laws, the reader should GOOGLE–NUMBERSUSA and JUDICIAL WATCH? Here you will find the absolute truth and not the meandering propaganda addressed by the special interest lobbyists or the deceiving national press. We can burying the head in the proverbial sand, or do something to save your quality of life in our nation. E-Verify from the beginning has been demonized, and only bloggers like me brought its operation to gain national attention? IT WORKS! So without public outcry, the bill would have ended up in a dusty draw of the Senate. Now–these same people are out to crush 287 G, because it also works.
Yet right now the usual suspects are requesting the Federal court delay the full implementation of E-verify for government contractors. I’m sure that pro-illegal immigrant lawmakers such as Sen Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Homeland Security chief Napolitano and many more, will try to use their influence on behalf of greedy businesses who demand cheap wage workers to join their slavery forces. After federal training local police have the authority to check a persons identity and detain them for ICE. President Obama is currently being pressured to rescind the no-match-letter. A immigration tool that notifies employers of discrepancies in a persons identity, for a right to be employed.
September 4th, 2009 at 5:55 pmI think you intended to link to something other than HR 482 (107th) with the “overturn the 14th Amendment” link. The linked bill seems to be about RU-486.
September 4th, 2009 at 6:19 pmit is all part of the “southern strategy,” divide and conquer, us vs them, white vs non-white that Nixon started and Rove/Atwater perfected.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:02 pmStill more distortion and misinformation. The GOP refuse to debate reform preferring nihilism and fear mongering.
http://axisofreason.com/2009/09/07/gop-grand-obstructionist-party/
September 8th, 2009 at 2:15 amYou have to be a special sort of nitwit to even claim, much less believe, that there are members of Congress that favor illegal immigration.
September 8th, 2009 at 12:18 pm