HHS Chief to Illegals: Sign up for Obamacare!
11/25/14
‘They should seek and try … they can get
financial assistance’
(Washington Examiner) – When the Affordable Care Act was
being written and debated, President Obama took care to emphasize that no
illegal immigrants would be eligible for its benefits. Obama and the Democrats
who passed the bill were sensitive to public concerns that those who entered
the United States illegally should not receive assistance intended for those
here legally.
Indeed, an Obama promise along those lines played a role in
one of the most notorious incidents of the president’s time in office. “There
are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal
immigrants,” Obama said in a Sept. 9, 2009 healthcare address to a joint
session of Congress. “This, too, is false. The reforms I’m proposing would not
apply to those who are here illegally.”
At that moment, Republican Rep. Joe Wilson yelled out, “You
lie!” leaving the president and lawmakers stunned.
Wilson’s action was inexcusable, but the suspicions behind
it were entirely understandable. Republicans have always suspected the
administration wanted to extend not only Obamacare but a whole range of federal
benefits to illegal immigrants. And now, the president’s unilateral executive
action on immigration seems to be confirming some of those fears.
On November 11, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia
Mathews Burwell participated in an online chat with a group of Latino bloggers.
Burwell was asked a two-part question. Would the young immigrants known as
Dreamers be eligible for Obamacare subsidies, and can so-called mixed families
— for example, a family with illegal parents and legal children — receive
benefits?
Dreamers are not eligible, Burwell said. But she left no
doubt that she — along with officials at the highest levels of the Obama
administration — wants that to change. “I think that everyone probably knows
that this administration feels incredibly strongly about the fact we need to fix
that,” Burwell explained. “We need to reform the system and make the changes
that we need that will lead to benefits in everything from healthcare to
economics to so many things — a very important step that we need to take as a
nation.”
Burwell went on to tell the bloggers that families with
illegal members are welcome to receive benefits. “Mixed families should come,
they should seek and try, go on the site, they’ll find out they can get
financial assistance,” Burwell said. “They may be eligible for different
programs for their children or themselves.”
Finally, Burwell stressed that no one in the government will
ask applicants if they are here legally or not. “Everyone should come on, and
folks should not be scared,” Burwell said. “No questions will be asked, and it
is not about an immigration issue.”
Coming from the cabinet officer in charge of administering
the Affordable Care Act, Burwell’s words left some Republicans convinced that
it’s only a matter of time before the White House breaks Obama’s promise. “It’s
reasonable to assume that the administration would have no compunction about
issuing some sort of regulatory guidance to HHS to make [immigrants affected by
Obama's action] eligible for subsidies,” says one well-connected GOP Hill aide.
“The administration has sufficiently re-interpreted Obamacare and
re-interpreted the immigration laws that it would not be at all surprising if
they follow through on what Burwell said.”
Republican concerns have been intensified by Obama’s
slippery language about other federal benefits. In announcing executive action,
for example, the president said to those affected that if, among other
requirements, “you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes,” then “you can
come out of the shadows and get right with the law.”
The phrase “pay your fair share of taxes” suggests to most
ears that Obama meant immigrants involved would pay their fair share of taxes.
But in fact Obama’s action will make many immigrants eligible to be paid by the
government, and not the other way around; many will now be eligible for the
Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit, which could mean
they receive thousands of taxpayer dollars each year.
In addition, Obama’s use of the phrase “get right with the
law” is itself a bit misleading; a reasonable listener might assume that Obama
was conferring legal status on those involved. But the Justice Department
issued an opinion that his programs “would not ‘legalize’ any aliens who are
unlawfully present in the United States.” So the illegal immigrants involved
are still illegal immigrants, which leads to the question: If Obama is making
millions of still-illegal immigrants newly eligible for certain federal
benefits, why would anyone believe he will stop there?
It’s not clear exactly how far-reaching the effects of
Obama’s immigration edict will be. But there’s no doubt it has increased the
already high level of mistrust between the president and Republicans on Capitol
Hill.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-edict-raises-new-questions/article/2556620
Comments
Obama wants to buy the world a Coke, and
healthcare and housing and food and a retirement plan and bribery grants to
state politicians and fat bank accounts for dictators and put it all on your
credit card.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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