GOP senators to HHS secretary: Disclose 'legal justification' for covering DREAMers under Obamacare

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Mike Lee (R-Utah), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) wrote a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra rejecting the Biden administration’s new rule allowing illegal immigrants who are currently "protected by the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to obtain health care coverage" through the Affordable Care Act commonly known as Obamacare.

“In Biden’s economy, inflation is on the rise while job growth is slowing down. Unemployment is at a two-year high, and foreign born workers are flooding the workforce," the senators wrote in the letter to Becerra released on Wednesday. "Struggling American taxpayers are already on the hook for the costs of housing and welfare for illegal immigrants. And now, with this misguided rule, President Biden is asking these same hardworking, taxpaying Americans to foot the bill for illegal immigrants’ health care. This new policy is not only unjust, it is economically unsustainable for millions of American citizens.”

 

The senators laid out a series of questions for Becerra to answer, including, "precisely how many immigrants will be able to enroll in ACA or state-based health care plans?" and "Is this coverage limited to individual plans for DACA recipients, or does such coverage extend to family plans covering relatives—many of whom are illegally present in our country—as well?"

The senators also asked: "If every DACA recipient eligible under your Department’s rule applies for such health care coverage, exactly how much will that cost American taxpayers per year?" and "Does your Department intend to provide subsidized health care coverage to the nearly 10 million illegal immigrants who have flooded across the border who are not participants in the DACA program?"

The lawmakers asked Becerra to commit to "testifying before Congress to outline in greater detail this plan to provide taxpayer-funded health care to DACA recipients" and provide the "legal justification for permitting these individuals to access this health care coverage without explicit congressional authorization."