The White House doubled down on its shutdown messaging, warning that Democrats’ latest funding proposal would divert nearly $200 billion in taxpayer money to healthcare for illegal aliens if their demands were met.
In a new memo released Monday, the administration pointed to Democrats’ insistence on repealing the healthcare title of President Donald Trump’s signature Working Families Tax Cut Act.
The White House has credited the legislation with strengthening care for vulnerable Americans while blocking benefits for non-citizens.
“Democrats are demanding these reforms be repealed as a condition of keeping the government open for four weeks,” the memo stated.
“This would result in the federal government spending nearly $200 billion on healthcare for illegal immigrants and non-citizens over the next decade — nearly enough to fund the entire Children’s Health Insurance Program over the same period — all while repealing reforms that strengthen care for the most vulnerable Americans.”
The warning comes as Democrats in the Senate have blocked three GOP attempts to pass the House’s short-term funding bill, which would keep the government open until November 21.
Instead, Senate Democrats are pushing their own plan to extend funding only until October 31.
Meanwhile, they are undoing Trump’s reforms, clawing back canceled funding for NPR and PBS, and reviving healthcare provisions for non-citizens.
Republicans and the White House argue Democrats are risking a prolonged shutdown to protect illegal immigrants rather than safeguard American taxpayers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) dismissed the accusation, blasting Republicans on the Senate floor.
“That is a damn lie,” Schumer claimed.
“Not $1 of Medicare, Medicaid, or [Obamacare] is allowed to go to undocumented immigrants, not a dollar.”
But the White House memo outlined six key provisions within Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut Act that Democrats want repealed.
The Trump administration says the reforms are the only reason taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens isn’t already ballooning.
Among them:
• Ending Medicaid funding for most non-citizens
• Ending enhanced FMAP emergency care for illegal immigrants
• Ending Medicare funding for most non-citizens
• Ending Obamacare funding for most non-citizens
• Closing the “California loophole,” which allowed states to draw down extra federal funding for illegal immigrants
• Eliminating a “special rule” that subverted Obamacare’s five-year waiting period by allowing low-income immigrants to receive premium subsidies immediately
“Democrats’ funding proposal would put American Patients Last by undoing critical [Working Families Tax Cut Act] reforms, thereby spending nearly $200 billion in taxpayer money on healthcare benefits for illegal immigrants and other non-citizens,” the memo concluded.
The shutdown, which began at midnight Wednesday, shows no immediate signs of resolution.
President Trump is set to meet with congressional leaders this week to press Democrats to drop their demands.
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