Another House Democrat Tries to Justify Voting Against the Heller Amendment

In late July, the Houses Ways & Means Committee "marked-up" the House health care bill, America's Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200). At the mark-up, Democrats on the committee voted down an amendment offered by Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) that would have definitively barred illegal aliens from qualifying for taxpayer-funded benefits under the bill. (See FAIR's Legislative Update, July 27, 2009). Since defeating the Heller amendment, Democrats on the Committee have struggled to explain their vote to the American people.

First, Democrats tried to argue that the amendment was unnecessary because Section 246 of the bill states illegal aliens could not obtain the affordability credit. But FAIR explained to the American people why this provision was ineffective - it failed to include any mechanism to verify eligibility for the public option or for the affordability credit. Accordingly, Section 246 would not bar illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer-funded health benefits. (See FAIR's House bill summary). As a result, the American people have rejected this explanation.

Next, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.) came forward and suggested that the Heller amendment was unnecessary. Doggett argued that because federal law already requires verification for other programs, liked Medicaid, it was unnecessary as part of the House bill. The Congressman also tried to suggest that insurance companies would misuse people's personal information when trying to verify eligibility for the affordability credits. Last week, FAIR also explained why Rep. Doggett's explanation was without merit. (See FAIR's Legislative Update, August 24, 2009). The American people have likewise rejected the Doggett explanation.

Now, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), another Member of Congress who voted against the Heller amendment, has offered an excuse to justify his vote. In yet another lame attempt to explain why he voted against the interests of the American people, Rep. Becerra has called eligibility verification "unworkable." (CNN, August 26, 2009). This argument might be plausible if the Heller amendment sought to create a brand new verification program that had never been used before. But it did not. Rep. Heller's amendment required the use of the SAVE system, an eligibility verification database that is already in use nationwide. State and local governments use SAVE to verify eligibility for programs like Welfare, Food Stamps, Medicaid and other education and housing benefits. Not only is this verification system workable, it has been in place for the past 23 years!

House Democrats say they don't want illegal aliens to qualify for benefits under their bill but they sure have gone to great lengths to try to justify voting against an amendment that accomplishes their stated goal. At this point, wouldn't it just be easier for the Democrats to go back and adopt the Heller amendment instead of offering up more lame excuses to the American people?

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