Posted on 05/21/2008 5:29:06 PM PDT by pissant
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is backing the renewal of a $250 million-a-year program that will pay illegal immigrants’ hospital bills.
The very idea that McCain is again supporting a program that some view as rewarding illegal immigrants is certain to attract attention from the same conservatives he’s trying to win over for the White House.
The measure, which would reimburse hospitals for the cost of treating illegal immigrants, has broad support from both parties, including from some immigration hardliners and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).
Even some of McCain’s toughest critics on immigration admit it is a relatively benign program. But McCain’s association with it underscores his rift on immigration with the right wing, which sees him as championing amnesty for illegal immigrants.
“It’s another reminder that he’s ‘Amnesty John,’ ” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, who nevertheless has no major objection to the proposal. “It’s another reminder of his role in promoting not just amnesty but promoting illegal immigration in the first place.”
An aide to McCain said the Arizona Republican stands by his position.
Federal law forbids hospitals from turning anyone away from emergency rooms, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay for care. Hospitals have been complaining for a decade about the increasing financial burden they bear treating illegal immigrants. Congress responded by creating this funding stream in 2003; it is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year.
McCain is not alone in supporting the program. Sens. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), who are illegal immigration hardliners, also support it.
Yet McCain sponsored legislation with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would offer a path to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants. This damaged his credibility with conservatives, and they do not trust him on the issue.
Though the bill did not pass, many conservatives view the McCain-Kennedy legislation as a black mark on McCain’s record.
McCain adopted a harder stance on the campaign trail as his primary opponents painted him as soft on the issue. Since he emerged from the field as the GOP’s presumptive nominee, McCain has steered clear of immigration whenever possible.
Some staunch immigration reformers detest the hospital-funding program as a giveaway to lawbreakers. Conservatives like Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) maintain that hospitals should be required to ask patients about their immigration status to identify people in the country illegally.
The hospital industry and many lawmakers, especially those from border states, say the funding is critical to keep the facilities open. Hospitals and ambulance services in Southwest border states provided more than $200 million in free emergency care to illegal immigrants in 2000, according to a study commissioned by Congress.
I can't say with certainty, so I'm going to assign you the duty of "lookin' it up" to see if it is "judicial law".
Assign yourself the task and win a McCain coffee mug to take with you to the next chamber breakfast taco speech. Now shoo and go check up on your illegal lawn service crew before they start staring at those Obama yard signs too much.
Some people can’t distinguish between the problem and a symptom of the problem. ...
Wow! What an elitist pinheaded insult!
We see it *very* clearly, and we also see another failure by McCain to come out CLEARLY on the amnesty and illegal problem.
He did no such thing.
Fact is, he is in favor of these things, and he shows it daily.
Take McCain. Please.
Up til now, McCain hasn’t been haunted enough..
The Ghost of Invasion Past is still here.
It was Texas Fed Judge Wayne Justice who made the original decision on educating illegals or children of illegals.
When the court overturned Prop 187 in CA, the basis was Judge Justice's earlier decision. Likewise, as cities and states are implementing laws to deny benefits to illegals, they are careful not to violate the mandate
So, I will assume this law on not denying emergency medical care was a result of Judge Justice's decision.
Now, this just applies to emergency medical care only. But what we see in the real world is that these "Public Hospitals", funded by tax dollars, are providing more than just emergency care. Or, these hospitals located close to the border are providing services to Mexican Citizens who are not illegal aliens, but cross to receive the benefit, then return home. Or, we see state health depts who cross into the Mexican border towns to provide services.
Your next assignment, should you chose to accept it, is to determine why the medical community goes beyond what the court mandated.
Are those “McCain 2008” breakaway crotchless panties made in Mexico, by any chance?
Got news for you, I don't take assignments, orders or directives from illegal labor profiteers hell bent on making a cheap buck rather than protecting legitimate American citizens' interests. You need to get back to assigning Miguel on which lawn to cut first. It'll be more effective for you than spewing orders here. BTW, are these guys part of your Home Depot pickup team?
You are right about one thing. I'm not interested in anything you're hawking.
Well, I’ll leave you to wallow in the collective self deception, but the key to understanding the issue is to understand the property and sales taxes.
Spoken like a true condescending elitist. Did McCain insipre that line or was it little Billy Kristol?
Not so much a elitist, but definitely contemptuous of the populists, especially the cultural populists.
ping
With that single statement Daddy Kristol betrays neo-conservatism's leftist pedigree. True conservatives are deeply distrustful of a priori schemes cobbled together by think-tanks to create a new world order.
Real conservatives tend to agree with Karl Popper's statement, based on historical observation, that those who try to bring heaven down to earth, usually only succeed in bringing hell up, which is precisely what the globaloniests will do.
Apparently is he okay with it while he flies around the country in Cindy’s corporate jet. He fetish with illegal aliens is beyond weird.
I want to say one nice thing about McCain.
He along with Teddy Atlas want to clean up pro boxing.
They want to make all pro boxers join the Teamster Union.
Micromanage with the worst.
“Federal law forbids hospitals from turning anyone away from emergency rooms, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay for care.”
Change the law!
Congress voted to make it they can also vote to unmake it.
Just imagine how lilting and lyrical that must have sounded in the original Spanish. ;)
Yup! And by Juan's crack team of occasional roofers, drywallers and pool boys, no less!
Look! Look! The one in the center is actually voguing for us, while modeling a pair! ;)
I guess that would make you a cultural elitist.
Its good for each of us to know where the other stands, doncha think?
What the heck is a cultural populist? As near as I can figure out, a populist is a liberal who wants big government to regulate everybody but him.
A “cultural populist” is one who believes in the supremacy of the values and tastes of “the common man.” In other words” Brie=bad, Velveeta=good.
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