Speaking truth to power is ugly. . .
September 9, 2009
There is no getting around the fact that speaking truth to power is ugly. If someone gets caught over and over telling lies it is hard to resist calling them a liar. South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson couldn’t resist shouting down Obama during his speech to Congress, branding him a liar. Obama suggested that the current health care bills (namely 3200) don’t include provisions that would cover illegal immigrants. Lots of time has been spent on this issue, Obama knows that the current bill covers illegals.
Rep Wilson rightly points out that Section 1702 of the bill restricts inquiries about immigration status expanding Medicaid eligibility. Rep Dean Heller and Rep Nathan Dean offered a number of clarifications and fixes to this section that were rejected. Rep Lamar Smith explains,
H.R. 3200 contains gaping loopholes that will allow illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded benefits. And these loopholes are no accident. The legislation contains no verification mechanism to ensure that illegal immigrants do not apply for benefits. Republicans offered an amendment to close this loophole — it would have required verification using the existing methods that are already in place to verify eligibility for other federal benefits programs. But, when they were asked to put the language of the bill where their words were, in a party-line vote, House Democrats rejected the amendment to require verification and close this loophole.
Why not just close the loopholes? Why not end the debate. Obama can claim all day, “the plan does not cover illegals”, but why not close the loopholes? Maybe because the language is on purpose – maybe they intend to cover illegal immigrants. Maybe we should cover them, but we should be honest about the plan. I applaud Joe for taking a stand for Americans. I applaud him for speaking truth to power. I wouldn’t have had the guts to do the same . . .
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Look, 3200 does not cover illegal immigrants.
It specifically says “Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
This claim has been debunked multiple times: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/twenty-six-lies-about-hr-3200/
Obama and the democrats have repeatedly said they do not want obamacare to cover illegal immigrants.
This congressman embarrassed himself by shouting down the president of the united states and by being misinformed about what he was shouting about.
Comment by Brian — September 10, 2009 @ 6:56 am
@Brian you are simply wrong. Thousands of hours of TV and radio have been spent debunking the debunking. If you make it easier for immigrants to get free care – by definition you expand coverage for illegals. If you make equally as hard as it is today to provide coverage for illegals you don’t. This plan expands care for illegals.
Do you think illegals shouldn’t be covered? Isn’t that a racist plan? What is your plan to take care of the 20,000,000 people in America that won’t be covered by Obama’s plan? Please tell me. Should these people just die? Should we proactively kill them?
Comment by Alexander Muse — September 10, 2009 @ 7:32 am
Please explain how hr 3200 makes it easier for illegal immigrants to get free care.
If I am wrong I will freely admit it. But the bill explicitly says that illegals are not eligible for benefits.
Comment by Brian — September 10, 2009 @ 8:11 am
Let’s do a little test of Alex’s intellectual honesty. He contends that H.R. 3200 expands coverage for illegal immigrants. For the sake of argument, let’s accept that claim.
As Brian implied, under the bill, it is against the law for an illegal immigrant to get the provided subsidies. Will Alex admit that, even if the practical effect of the bill is to expand coverage for illegal immigrants, it is not legal under the bill?
Comment by Roger — September 10, 2009 @ 10:53 am
I happen to think this entire argument is worthless. We already have laws on the books saying that no hospital can deny services for anyone in need. What does an illigal need insurance for? – we are going to treat him/her either way and the tax payers will most likely pay for it.
Comment by skip — September 11, 2009 @ 2:16 pm
@skip – too true, too true…
Comment by Alexander Muse — September 11, 2009 @ 3:41 pm
[...] I guess it is better to lie than to call someone a liar (even if they are right). [...]
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