On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to a question on whether he supports cutting Medicaid funds to states that help illegal immigrants buy health insurance and whether Democrats support tax dollars going to those in the country illegally by stating that most of the people hurt by the cuts are citizens.
Co-host Wolf Blitzer asked, “Republicans, Leader Jeffries, say they can save a significant amount of money by cutting Medicaid funding to those states that help undocumented immigrants purchase health insurance. What’s your position on that proposal? And if Democrats try to fight that proposal, do you worry it could open up your members to Republican attacks that they support tax dollars, U.S. tax dollars going to people who are in the United States illegally?”
Jeffries responded, “This is actually another lie in terms of what Republicans are trying to do. The Congressional Budget Office has been clear that, if these Medicaid cuts were to become law, approximately 14 million Americans will lose their health care. And the Republicans aren’t even trying to make the argument that the overwhelming majority of those 14 million Americans aren’t actually citizens. Of course they are. These are everyday Americans who work hard. They’re our children and our families and our women and everyday Americans with disabilities and, of course, those seniors who rely on Medicaid for their nursing home care or for their home care.”
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