Joe Wilson's Victory on Illegal Immigration

Townhall.com ^ | September 16, 2009 | Tom Tancredo

[Kaslin]

Democrats are still not satisfied with my former colleague Joe Wilson’s apology after he shouted “You lie!” when Obama claimed in his address to Congress that “There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false.  The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” 

If he does not continue to grovel and apologize they are threatening to discipline him for his violation of what Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman calls the “House rules of decorum.”

Whether or not he breached House decorum, Joe’s actions were both true and effective.  Obama admitted as much by proposing changes to the bill to limit illegal aliens’ access to Obamacare.  Joe’s apology is enough, but Obama’s concessions are not. 

When Obama made his speech, there were a number of glaring and intentional loopholes to the Democrat’s pretend ban of illegal aliens in the House healthcare bill HR 3200. 

Virtually every single means tested government program requires that applicants are screened by the “Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements” [SAVE] program to ensure that they are not illegal aliens. 

But this provision is not included in HR 3200.  This is not an oversight.  Republicans twice introduced Amendments to require the SAVE program be implemented, and it was voted down by the same Democrats who hypocritically added the clause that ostensibly barred illegals.

Furthermore, the bill does not say anything about illegal aliens not being able to participate in the taxpayer subsidized “Health Insurance Exchange” program.  The Congressional Research Service reported that it “does not contain any restrictions on non-citizens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange”

Conservatives tried to bring these facts to the forefront of the healthcare debate, but the media and the Democrats simply ignored them or repeated their lie that illegal aliens would not receive government funded healthcare.

But Joe Wilson forced them to face the facts.  On Friday night, Obama announced that he wanted to use the SAVE program and bar illegals from the Health Insurance Exchange.  

This does not mean Obama was telling the truth when Joe called him a liar.  On the contrary, it is an admission that before Joe called out Obama illegals were eligible.                    

Assuming the House follows through with Obama’s newly proposed changes, there are still more loopholes.  

As the open borders lobby never fails to remind us, many illegal aliens have family members who are here legally.  Often, they are “anchor babies” born to illegal aliens on US soil.  There is nothing in to keep them from getting healthcare.  The Congressional Research Service issued a report noting,                                                                                                         

“There could be instances where some family members would meet the definition of an eligible individual for purposes of the credit, while other family members would not… H.R. 3200 does not expressly address how such a situation would be treated. Therefore, it appears that the Health Choices Commissioner would be responsible for determining how the credits would be administered in the case of mixed-status families.”

It doesn’t take a clairvoyant to guess where Obama’s handpicked bureaucrats will come down on this issue.

But even if all the loopholes are closed, they will be meaningless if amnesty is given to illegal aliens.   If passed, Obamacare will not go in effect until 2013.  Obama wants to pass amnesty in the beginning of 2010.   He told Katie Couric he wanted to

“create a situation where we're dealing with illegal immigration, so that we don't have illegal immigrants. And we've got legal residents or citizens who are eligible for the plan. And I want a comprehensive immigration plan that creates a pathway to achieve that.”

So if he gets his way, prohibitions against giving healthcare to illegal aliens will be meaningless because they won’t be illegal aliens anymore.

Illegal immigration already costs billions to our system.  The Federation for American Immigration Reform recently released a report that the cost of reimbursing hospitals for care of illegal aliens alone costs 10.5 billion dollars a year.  Another study by the Center for Immigration Studies estimated the cost of including illegals in Obamacare at 30.5 billion dollars. 

Turning illegal aliens into legal residents does not change these costs.                             

The American people are overwhelmingly on our side.  According to the latest Rammussen Poll, 83% of American voters believe that applicants for government-subsidized healthcare should be required to show proof of U.S. Citizenship. 

This is why the open borders lobby is effective only when they hide their real agenda.  In July, Roll Call interviewed an anonymous Congressman from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,

“Asked if [CHC] leaders will ask Pelosi to specifically spell something out in the bill to address illegal immigrants, the Member said no. Rather, the Member said the CHC simply wants to make sure the bill—as drafted—doesn’t prohibit illegal immigrants from accessing care.”

They do not tell the American people what they really want because they know the American people are against them.  Like roaches, they will run for cover if you shine a little light on them.  Joe did exactly that.

[pollywog]

Thank you Joe!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

[bcsco]

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[frankenMonkey]

"...Obama claimed in his address to Congress that “There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” ..."

However, "undocumented workers" and "undocumented residents" will be covered. It's just what the meaning of "is" is....

[palmer]

The free clinic in the next county that I donate to treats illegals. They do not turn anyone away. I have no problem with that because as a charity (with very skilled volunteer doctors and dentists) it is an efficient use of money. The problem with Obamacare is that they would shut down such clinics and replace them with government-run clinics. Obviously illegals would be treated except that working Americans will pay with higher taxes and rationing.

[Kartographer]

[bboop]

We will give all the illegals citizenship, along with their gimmes and goodies.

[metmom]

If he does not continue to grovel and apologize they are threatening to discipline him for his violation of what Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman calls the “House rules of decorum.”

Democrats react to the truth like cockroaches to the light or vampires to a mirror and a Crucifix.

They won't be happy until his career is ruined.

Breaking the House rules of decorum is a minor infraction. If a dem had done it to Bush, he'd be the hero for being *outspoken*.

[logician2u]

So what will conservatives such as Tancredo have to complain about when the Congress actually does amend the "health care reform" bill to exclude non-citizens?

My guess: nothing.

This is a red herring as far as I'm concerned, and all the fuss over whether Rep. Wilson apologized enough and with sufficient respect and sincerity only sets back the important task of alerting Americans to the stark reality that . .

. . their future health, wealth, welfare and very lives are at stake . .

. .should Abominacare be signed into law.

Enough of this chatter about who would or would not be "covered"; let's concentrate on the main objective.

Do not let the federal government take over the medical segment of the economy.

[SMARTY]

Here’s an idea: Let’s all give up our American citizenship, go to Mexico and claim citizenship then, return here for all the freebies!!

[angkor]

This battle is not over.... the Capitol Hill liars and sociopaths are relentless and they haven’t given up on Amnesty for 20 million++ illegal alien peasants.

They’ll be coming back with another assault against the American people in 2010:

Obozo transcript, Aug 10, 2009, Guadalajara Mexico:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/world/americas/11prexy.text.html?_r=1&ref=americas&pagewanted=all

Now, I’ve got a lot on my plate, and it’s very important for us to sequence these big initiatives in a way where they don’t all just crash at the same time. And what we’ve said is in the fall when we come back, we’re going to complete health care reform. We still have to act on energy legislation that has passed the House, but the Senate, I’m sure, is going to have its own ideas about how it wants to approach it. We still have financial regulatory reform that has to get done because we don’t want a situation in which irresponsible actions in the global financial markets can precipitate another crisis. That’s a pretty big stack of bills.

Fortunately, what we’ve been able to do is to begin meeting with both Democrats and Republicans from the House and the Senate. Secretary Napolitano is coordinating these discussions, and I would anticipate that before the year is out we will have draft legislation along with sponsors potentially in the House and the Senate who are ready to move this forward, and when we come back next year, that we should be in a position to start acting.

Now, am I going to be able to snap my fingers and get this done? No. This is going to be difficult; it’s going to require bipartisan cooperation. There are going to be demagogues out there who try to suggest that any form of pathway for legalization for those who are already in the United States is unacceptable. And those are fights that I’d have to have if my poll numbers are at 70 or if my poll numbers are at 40. That’s just the nature of the U.S. immigration debate.

But ultimately, I think the American people want fairness. And we can create a system in which you have strong border security, we have an orderly process for people to come in, but we’re also giving an opportunity for those who are already in the United States to be able to achieve a pathway to citizenship so that they don’t have to live in the shadows, and their children and their grandchildren can have a full participation in the United States. So I’m confident we can get it done.

[Buckeye McFrog]

On his radio show this morning, Jim Quinn made an excellent point that the usual suspects (Mecha, LaRaza, etc.) are not pitching a bloody fit about this, which would seem to tell you that they have been assured coverage for illegals will get slipped back in at the 11th. hour.

Either that or they are just going to rely on Wise Latinas with Empathy to impose coverage from the bench...

[kabar]

“create a situation where we're dealing with illegal immigration, so that we don't have illegal immigrants. And we've got legal residents or citizens who are eligible for the plan. And I want a comprehensive immigration plan that creates a pathway to achieve that.”

Obama is a fool. Does he think illegal immigration will stop when an amnesty is passed? We had a "one-time" amnesty in 1986. It was anticipated that 1 million would apply, but the real number turned out to be 2.7 million. And now we have 12 to 20 million illegal aliens here.

In ten years, we will be talking about a third amnesty.

[kabar]

Who exactly pays for the “free clinic?”

[PLD]

Good for you Joe we are behind you all the way..Now lets see the idiots do some work and put Rangel and the rest of the criminals in jail..Also get the old sow Pelosi to apologize to the CIA for calling them liars..

[kabar]

Do not let the federal government take over the medical segment of the economy.

The federal government already has a good start spending about half of all the health care dollars. There are 60 million using Medicaid and 45 million on Medicare.

[Kaslin]

Great graphic

[Kaslin]

We will give all the illegals citizenship, along with their gimmes and goodies.

What do you mean we?

[Kaslin]

Of course not. They will ram amnesty through like they will ram health care through. This is why we must get the majority back again.

Vote against democrats 2010

[Kaslin]

No no, he wants you to believe amnesty will not be passed. But it will be rammed through like the health care bill will be rammed through. You can count on it