Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday refuted a Democratic C-SPAN caller who accused him of lying about illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in June that around 1.4 million individuals who would be removed from the program under the reconciliation bill that President Donald Trump signed in July “would be people who do not meet citizenship and immigration status requirements for Medicaid enrollment but who would be covered under current law in programs funded by the states.” On “Washington Journal,” Johnson cited the CBO estimate, along with Democrats’ proposed government funding bill, to bolster his claim.
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“If Republicans and Democrats can agree to a one-year extension to the ACA [Affordable Care Act] subsidies, removing this sort of talking point of illegal immigrants draining our resources as you sit here and lie about this — would you support that bill and bring it to a vote on the House floor?” the caller asked.
“I’m not lying. I’m telling you the truth. And you can go look at all the documents yourself. Don’t look at the Republican paperwork,” Johnson retorted. “Look at the Congressional Budget Office, who said that we had at least 1.4 million illegal aliens draining the resources from Medicaid, which is why we put the reforms in the law and got it signed July 4th. [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries’ counterproposal for the CR would reverse all that. Look at page 57, section 2141 of the bill that they filed.”
Johnson noted he has the Democrats’ proposed bill on the homepage of his website.
“See for yourself. Don’t take my word for it,” he said. “Look what they wanted to do.”
The section Johnson referenced seeks to “repeal” the July reconciliation bill’s Title VII, Section B, which pertains to Medicare and efforts to curb waste, fraud and abuse in the system, such as the restriction of “Alien Medicaid eligibility.”
The Senate failed to pass a seven-week continuing resolution on Sept. 30, falling short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a Democratic filibuster. Republicans have repeatedly accused Democrats of shutting down the government to try to fund healthcare for illegal migrants, but they have denied the allegations, justifying the shutdown as an effort to lower healthcare costs.
However, telehealth and home care coverage for millions of Medicare beneficiaries expired on Oct. 1 at midnight due to Democrats tanking the continuing resolution.
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