Key Senate Republicans join effort to block use of VA resources for illegals

Republican Sens. Steve Daines, Mont., and Bill Hagerty, Tenn., have signed on to an effort from Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville to prevent the use of the Department of Veteran Affairs healthcare resources for illegal immigrants.

Tuberville in December introduced the "No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act" amid reports that the Biden administration was using VA resources to accommodate the unprecedented number of illegal entrants to the U.S., Fox News reported.

The Alabama lawmaker's office confirmed to Just the News on Tuesday that Daines and Hagerty had signed on as co-sponsors to the plan.

GOP Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., and Marsha Blackburn, Tenn., did so in mid-December.

During an appearance on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast last week, Tuberville insisted that, amid the influx, the VA was only able to accommodate roughly half of the nation's veterans, in part due to the use of VA resources for illegals.

"Now we have 22 million veterans in our country," he said. "And I was talking to a group the other day at a VA and they said, 'unfortunately, coach, we're only capable of serving 11 million of those 22 million.' And I said 'you got to be kidding me.' So, no. Eleven [out of] 22 million we can only serve.

"Now it's gonna get worse because these community care systems in the rural areas are now being allowed by the Biden administration to be used by illegal immigrants," he added. "And you can't make it up what what the Democrats are doing, and they're just pushing everything towards, you know, keeping more people here, getting more voters on their side."

"It's just it's – you hate it for our veterans. You hate it for our country, because this is just one of the many, many things I've seen in the three years I've been in the Senate that are taken away from the taxpayers and the American citizens and given it to somebody that is not a citizen of this country," he concluded.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.