The GOP’s spending bill excludes roughly 1.4 million illegal migrants from the nation’s Medicaid program, despite a widely misunderstood vote on the Senate floor.
“Yesterday, there were a lot of rumors floating around about the ban on Medicaid for illegal aliens being stripped from the bill,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said on X. “Thankfully, that’s not true. It’s very much in the bill we just passed.”
The vote is an economic blow to blue-state leaders in 14 states who subsidize families of illegal migrants to help inflate their consumer and real estate economies. For example, adult migrants get healthcare aid via Medicaid funding in sanctuary-state California, New York, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington State, and in GOP-led Utah.
“We’re not talking about a few bucks here and there,” Schmitt tweeted:
This could cost blue states tens of billions of dollars. A lot of these states have serious budget problems already. They’re going to have to choose between their addiction to mass migration and averting financial collapse.
That means blue states are left with a choice: Either send your illegal immigrants home, or you’re going to be paying their bills yourself. It’s easy when you’re doing it on the American taxpayer’s dime. It’s a lot tougher when it’s all coming from your own constituents.
The provision will make little difference to many hard-working, younger illegal migrants. But it will raise the pressure on elderly migrants and poor families to return to their home countries.
The exit of migrants back to their home countries will help ordinary Americans by nudging up wages and reducing rental costs.
It also helps Americans by pressuring companies to upgrade workplaces and by pressuring cautious politicians to enact much-needed but painful reforms in education, productivity, drug policy, housing, and healthcare. For years, politicians have avoided these decisions while allowing interest groups to profit from millions of low-wage migrants.
Schmitt explained why many people mistakenly believe the Senate voted to preserve Medicaid for illegals:
Here’s where the rumor came from: During yesterday’s vote-a-rama, an amendment banning Medicaid for illegal immigrants was voted down. The clip of that vote started circulating online—and folks took that to mean that the provision had been stripped from the bill altogether.
But that was just one of many “messaging amendments,” designed to force Democrats to vote against specific provisions—in this case, a ban on some Medicaid funding for illegal aliens who commit heinous crimes—on the record. It was meant to show the public how radical they are.
The ban itself was ALREADY in the bill. It was never taken out. And it wasn’t just a ban on some Medicaid for illegal immigrants who commit heinous crimes—it applies to ALL Medicaid for ALL illegal immigrants. (And most noncitizens generally).
The bill we passed actually goes much further—beyond banning Medicaid for 1.4 million illegal aliens, it:
• Requires states to verify citizenship status before providing coverage
• Bans automatic Medicaid enrollment for children of illegal aliens
• Excludes DACA from Medicaid
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