“Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set Ye Free”
(John 8:32) Engraved on the entrance of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia
Just Dems
This essay is specifically written for my Democratic friends. Republicans, MAGA-world folks, please, please don’t read this one. This is the “secret sauce”, the hidden issues that our debates are really all about. This one’s about “the Truth”. In this age of “my facts” and “your facts”, this one doesn’t fit, because it’s just “truth”: too much “truth” for many to handle (A Few Good Men – “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH”!!!)
So let’s call this out: MAGA-world is claiming that Democrats want to give money to undocumented migrants for health care. It’s their big talking point screamed from the mountain tops, the podium of the White House briefing room, and every time House Speaker “Harry Potter” opens his mouth. That’s a straight-up, bald-faced, lie; a lie they know is a lie. But they don’t care.
Against the Law
It is against US Law to give undocumented migrants US money. That includes Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP benefits, Affordable Care Act benefits, and the Children’s Health Program. The Law forbidding it: the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (that rolls right off of the tongue).
Now if you ask Democrats if they “want” to give health care to undocumented migrant children, that’s a whole different story – ask Maxine Waters (or me). But it really doesn’t matter what we want. The law is the law, and Democrats are NOT trying to change the law.
There is ONE exception: hospitals are required to treat emergency aid cases, regardless of their documented status. And some of THOSE expenses can be reimbursed through emergency Medicaid payments. But Americans are usually pretty good about saying “nobody should die because they can’t pay”, so we let doctors in the emergency departments continue to save lives.
If it is illegal to give government aid to undocumented migrants, and it will continue to be illegal to give government aid to undocumented migrants; then what is the shutdown argument really about? The answer, of course, is what almost every government argument is about, money. In this case, a lot of money: $1.4 Trillion.
Rich Get Richer
The “Big Beautiful Bill” cut $1.4 trillion from government health care programs. Among those was the Republican “boogey man”, the Affordable Care Act, where funding was added to help America get through the Covid pandemic. That funding helped keep ACA insurance costs lower, and allowed millions of Americans (not undocumented migrants) to have health insurance. That added money was cut. It was used to pay for what the Republicans wanted most: a huge tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the biggest tax payers: the rich, and the corporations.
The budget now in front of Congress is where “the rubber” of the tax cut meets “the road” of higher insurance costs. Under the US Constitution, Congress is required both to pass a law saying what they want to do (the “Big, Beautiful, Bill”) and a law funding what they want to do (the Budget). Now it’s time for “round two”, the Big, Beautiful Bill’s budget resolution.
Party Lines
The members of the House of Representatives voted as expected, along party-lines, with the Republicans exercising their six vote majority to approve the budget. But the arcane rules of the US Senate require that to pass the budget, there must first be a “cloture” motion passed to end debate on the budget. That “cloture” motion requires sixty Senators to support it. Republicans have a 53 to 47 majority, so it requires seven Democrats to agree to end debate, and bring the Budget for a direct vote where a majority would win.
Two Democrats, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman and Nevada’s Catherine Cortez-Masto, joined the Republican majority, as well as Maine Independent Angus King (who usually votes with Democrats). But to get to “cloture”, it will require four more Democrats to join in. Until an agreement is reached with four more Democrats, there is no US Budget, and therefore the government is “shut down”.
Fooled Again
So what we really are debating is the cuts that will raise millions of Americans insurance costs, and also will cut Medicaid benefits to millions more Americans. Those cuts will give a lot of already wealthy people and corporations more money.
Unfortunately (to me), none of that will help undocumented migrants. They will still be pursued by masked ICE militia, and harassed for just trying to make a better life in the world. But that has nothing to do with the budget, the government shutdown, or US health care.
But don’t be “fooled again”. This shut down isn’t about migrants. It’s about giving rich people more money, and making health insurance more expensive for everyone else.
