November 8, 6:50 AMSan Diego Immigration Policy ExaminerCarl Braun

Mr.President - Ms Speaker... Get a room!

The President and Speaker Pelosi share a kiss after hammering out the healthcare bill on Saturday
Ap Photo/Alex Brandon

“There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants.
This, too, is false—the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
– President Obama, September 9, 2009 to a Joint Session of Congress

When the smoke cleared last night in the House of Representatives, the score was Speaker Pelosi 220 and the American People 215. The Healthcare Welfare Bill, the single largest piece of legislation ever proposed, passed the House with the slimmest of margins. All but one Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana voted against it and 39 Democrats did as well. Still it passed and is headed to the Senate for debate next week. That this sludgislation will eventually pass is all but assured. What it will ultimately contain is still a big question.

One element that will likely cause heated debate in the Senate has to do with coverage for illegal aliens. The President lost his attempt to protect his virtue to Pelosi when she played the race card. How ironic. Madame Speaker pulled in the race team and the twenty Hispanic Caucus votes  pushed her over the top proving once and for all what we already knew; Illegal aliens are and always  were part of this bill.

In an analysis of the Healthcare Welfare Bill conducted by the Republican Study Committee and Chaired by Congressman Tom Price of Georgia they concluded:

• As confirmed in the November 2, 2009 CRS report on immigration and healthcare, “The House bill contains no express restrictions on noncitizens – whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently – accessing and paying for coverage available through the health insurance exchange.”

• According to a September 2007 letter from Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue, a Social Security number would not keep someone from fraudulently receiving coverage under Medicaid or SCHIP if they provided false identifying information. The same will ring true for health coverage under Pelosi’s bill.

• In its preliminary score of H.R. 3962, the Congressional Budget Office noted that, in 2019 there would be “about 18 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly one third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” Thus, unless the number of illegal immigrants is projected to be fewer than 6 million individuals in 2019—nearly half the illegal immigrants currently estimated to be in the U.S.—the CBO score presumes illegals would have health coverage, raising further questions as to whether or not said coverage would be taxpayer-funded.

• It is also worth noting that in its preliminary score of H.R. 3200, CBO found that in 2019 there would be “about 17 million nonelderly residents uninsured (nearly half of whom would be unauthorized immigrants).” In other words, the number of projected uninsured who are also illegal immigrants declined from about 8 million under H.R. 3200 to 6 million under H.R. 3962. Many may question what changes in the Pelosi legislation resulted in 2 million illegal immigrants suddenly obtaining health coverage.

This Congress and this President have an agenda and no matter what the American people want, they will do everything they can to see that agenda realized. The American people, for all of their fervor today were asleep at the switch last November when they allowed one party to take total control over the government. That many of these socialist usurpers will be thrown into the streets next November is all but a given. That they will do untold damage to our Republic in the meantime is also guaranteed. 

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