Illegal Aliens Will Get Health Benefits Under House Bill

Congressional Research Agency Confirms Illegal Aliens Will Get Health Benefits Under House Bill

Last Tuesday, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which is the non-partisan "research arm" of the United States Congress, issued a report that concludes that illegal aliens will be able to receive benefits under the House health care bill (H.R. 3200) through two major loopholes. (See CRS Report and FAIR Press Release, August 26, 2009).

According to its own website, CRS is a legislative branch agency that provides Congress with "policy and legal analysis" that is authoritative, objective and accurate. (CRS website). The latest CRS report validates what FAIR has been saying for the past month and a half — that illegal aliens will be able to receive taxpayer-funded health benefits under the House health care bill. (See FAIR's Legislative Updates, July 20, 2009; July 27, 2009 and August 3, 2009).

The House bill creates an "exchange" and "all individuals," which would include illegal aliens, are eligible to participate in the exchange. Anyone who participates in the exchange, and does not otherwise have health insurance, can either enroll in the public option plan created by the House bill or enroll in a private insurance plan. Accordingly, the first loophole that provides illegal aliens with health insurance is the ability for illegal aliens to freely enroll in the taxpayer-subsidized public option. According to CRS, "H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on non-citizens — whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently — from participating in the Exchange." (CRS Report). Accordingly, illegal aliens can enroll in the public option, courtesy of the American taxpayers, to meet their health insurance needs. (See CNN.com, August 2009).

The second major loophole is the failure to require any meaningful verification procedure for taxpayer-subsidized insurance credits. Under the House bill, individuals who buy private insurance through the Exchange may receive an affordability credit to offset the cost of insurance. This credit is ostensibly limited to individuals lawfully present in the U.S., but CRS (like FAIR) notes the complete absence of any provision in the House bill that requires verification of eligibility for the affordability credits. Without such a mechanism, there is nothing in the bill that will prevent illegal aliens from receiving this taxpayer subsidy to buy private health insurance.

These conclusions by CRS should eliminate any remaining doubt about whether illegal aliens will receive health benefits under the bill. As a result of this report, President Obama can no longer characterize the concerns about the illegal alien health care loophole under the bill as "misinformation." (See FAIR's Legislative Update, August 24, 2009 and FAIR's Health Care Podcast, August 24, 2009). In addition, Members of Congress can no longer claim the bill prevents coverage for illegal aliens, and the media can no longer suggest this concern is a "myth." (See FAIR's House bill summary and Townhall.com, August 27, 2009).

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$800 Billion Economic Stimulus and Job Creation Bill Includes

No Protections for U.S. Workers



The whirlwind legislative process that played out in the month between President Obama’s inaugural and Presidents Day resulted in the most massive government spending in history. The intent of the legislation is to jump start the sputtering economy with an infusion of borrowed cash, and to create or preserve some 4 million jobs. At the end of January, an estimated 25 million workers in the U.S. were either unemployed, involuntarily working part-time, or had given up hope of finding jobs.

While American taxpayers and future generations of Americans are being asked to take a nearly trillion dollar gamble that the stimulus bill will work as advertised, the legislation included no safeguards to ensure that the jobs created will actually be filled by legal U.S. workers. The failure to provide protections that jobs created under this program are not filled by illegal aliens was not an oversight. It was a conscious and deliberate decision of the congressional leadership and the Obama administration.

In putting together the largest government spending (and borrowing) package in the history of mankind, the House acted first. The bill approved by that body in late January included provisions that would have provided reasonable assurances that legal U.S. workers would get to fill the jobs created with taxpayer dollars. By unanimous consent, the House approved two key amendments:

A four-year reauthorization of the E-Verify program. Offered by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), this amendment would have ensured that the highly accurate program that allows employers to verify a worker’s Social Security number could continue to operate.
A requirement that employers who receive stimulus money use the E-Verify system. This amendment, authored by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), would have ensured that legal U.S. workers, not illegal aliens, would be able to fill newly created jobs.

In early February, the Senate got to work on their version of the stimulus bill. Amendments identical to the Calvert and Kingston provisions of the House bill were written by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to be added to the Senate legislation. However, these amendments were not part of the bill that the Senate passed on February 11—not because they were rejected by a vote of the full body, but because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) refused to allow them to be offered.

U.S. WORKERS DELIBERATELY SOLD OUT

The two versions of the economic stimulus package then went to a conference committee, where the many differences between them were ironed out by a handful of members of the respective bodies. For the vital worker protections provided by the Calvert and Kingston amendments to become part of the legislation signed by President Obama, all the Senate negotiators needed to do was accept the House language.

Exactly what transpired in these closed door sessions is unknown. However, congressional sources close to FAIR’s government relations staff report that the Calvert and Kingston amendments were stripped from the bill by order of the two congressional leaders, Sen. Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Reports indicate that the removal of these protections for U.S. workers occurred without debate or explanation.