The Gentlemen From South Carolina -- State Has a History of Rowdy Politics

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) mastered politics in a state where no-holds-barred political combat dates to the days before the Civil War, when one of its congressmen entered the Senate chamber and beat a Massachusetts senator with a cane for attacking pro-slavery Southerners.

So when Wilson went so far Wednesday night as to heckle President Obama, interrupting his address to a joint session of Congress with shouts of "You lie!" he wasn't straying far from South Carolina's tradition of wild and woolly politics....

Wilson's charge -- which fact-checkers have repeatedly established as false -- was that the universal-coverage provision Obama backs would extend care to illegal immigrants. Republican leaders did not dispute Wilson's claim but condemned him for the violation of decorum....

Wilson's surprising moment drew renewed attention to the Palmetto State's history of colorful politics. Historians recall the state's then-Democratic Sen. Strom Thurmond wrestling Sen. Ralph Yarborough (D-TX) in 1964 over a civil rights nomination, and Rep. John W. Jenrette (D-SC) and his then-wife Rita having sex on the Capitol steps in the 1970s...

To be sure, South Carolina Democrats have had their brushes, too. During 39 years in the Senate, Democrat Fritz Hollings infamously spoke derogatively of just about every ethnic group...

In 2003, when The Washington Post persuaded Essie Mae Washington-Williams to publicly identify herself as the biracial daughter of Thurmond, who once had been an avowed segregationist, Wilson accused the woman of trying to "smear" the senator, who had died six months earlier....

When the Thurmond family acknowledged that Washington-Williams was indeed Thurmond's daughter, Wilson apologized but did not back down from his assertion that she should have kept quiet....

Wilson's charge -- which fact-checkers have repeatedly established as false -- was that the universal-coverage provision Obama backs would extend care to illegal immigrants.

I don't believe all 'fact-checkers' are created equal.

Congress has its own fact-checker: the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which reports to Congress on the content of proposed legislation in much the same way as the Congressional Budget Office reports on the financial impact of (among other things) proposed legislation. The CRS is nonpartisan.

On August 25, 2009, the CRS issued a report, titled "Treatment of Noncitizens in H.R. 3200", to all members of Congress. The report is only eleven pages long and is available at Treatment of Noncitizens in H.R. 3200.

According to the CRS (and with some minor exceptions), illegal aliens who are in the country for more than 182 days a year for three years in a row are required to have health insurance through a Health Insurance Exchange, which would include the Public Option insurance plan. From the report:

"unauthorized aliens who qualify as resident aliens (i.e., meet the substantial presence test [Scoutmaster note: essentially, are in the U.S. for 183 or more days out of the current and previous two years]), would be required under H.R. 3200 to have health insurance" (page 2, paragraph 2);
"H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens participating in the Exchange — whether the noncitizens are legally or illegally present" (page 2, paragraph 3) [meaning, illegal aliens may purchase Public Option insurance - and are there any among us who believe that Public Option insurance will not be government subsidized?]
"aliens who could be classified as resident aliens [Note: are in the country 183 or more days out of the current and previous two years] would be required under the bill to have health insurance" (page 2, paragraph 3)
"all . . . unauthorized aliens who meet the substantial presence test [Note: the 183-day test] would be required to obtain health insurance" (page 7, paragraph 1);
"it would appear that unauthorized aliens who meet the substantial presence test [Note: the 183-day test] would be required under H.R. 3200 to have health insurance" (page 7, paragraph 1);
"H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange [Note: the Exchange includes the Public Option]" (page 7, paragraph 2);
"H.R. 3200 would only mandate that resident aliens [Note: a defined term that includes illegal aliens who are meet the 183-day test] would be required to have health insurance" (page 7, paragraph 2);
"Some have expressed concerns that since H.R. 3200 does not contain a mechanism to verify immigration status, the prohibitions on certain noncitizens (e.g, nonimmigrants and unauthorized aliens) receiving the credits may not be enforced. ... [A]bsent of a provision in the bill specifying the verification procedure, that the [Health Choices] Commissioner would be responsible for determining a mechanism to verify the eligibility of noncitizens for the credits" (page 8, paragraph 4; page 9, paragraph 1);
Based on changes made by the bill to the Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program, "aliens who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid except for their immigration status (e.g., unauthorized aliens . . .) may receive 'medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act ... for care and emergency services that are necessary for the treatment of an emergency medical condition (as defined in Section 1903(v)(3) of such Act) of the alien involved and are not related to an organ transplant procedure' [Note: They're eligible for that emergency Medicaid care for five years]" (page 10, paragraph 2).

So . . . this could be a simple matter of parsing what's meant by President Obama's "universal coverage" in much the same manner as President Clinton's "it all depends on what the definition of 'is' is."

The newspapers and think-tank 'fact-checkers' can say that President Obama's healthcare plan doesn't cover illegal immigrants. However, the Congressional Research Service, Congress's own body to explain and fact-check legislation, discusses H.R. 3200's five years of emergency Medicaid coverage for illegal aliens.

The CRS says that illegal aliens will be able to purchase Public Option insurance (and does anyone truly doubt whether that will be publicly subsidized?). Not only will they be able to buy it -- after three years of being in the country for 183 or more days are year, illegal aliens will be required to have some kind of insurance such as the Public Option.

And the protection against illegal aliens receiving credits to buy public option insurance will be regulations, if any, put in place by a Health Choices Commissioner -- a new position created by the legislation and filled by President Obama.

The next time someone tells you that fact-checkers say that Obamacare excludes illegal aliens, you may wish to point out that Congress' own fact-checker, the Congressional Research Service, says otherwise.

And President Obama and the media had access to this simple eleven-page report for more than two weeks before the President said his plan didn't cover illegal aliens, and before the media chimed it with their "it's been universally debunked" nonsense.

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