Sen. Shaheen and Immigration Healthcare Debate
On Thursday, “Fox and Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones engaged with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, raising concerns about the lack of support from Democrats regarding medical benefits for illegal immigrants.
The federal government experienced a partial shutdown that began at 12:01 AM EDT on Wednesday after the Senate failed to approve a seven-week continuing resolution the day before. Although the House passed the Short-Term Financing Act on September 19, it fell short of the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster by Democrats.
During the discussion, Shaheen stated, “No one has heard of anyone saying that illegal immigrants should access the health insurance market.” Jones responded, expressing his agreement and suggesting that Democrats themselves had previously discussed the issue.
A clip aired featuring Savannah Guthrie, host of “Today,” questioning Democratic candidates during the 2020 presidential nomination process about illegal immigration. Guthrie noted, “A lot of people are talking about these government healthcare plans that we have proposed.” She asked attendees, through a show of hands, if they supported government plans that would include compensation for undocumented immigrants, to which all the Democratic candidates raised their hands amid applause from the audience.
“Senator, that’s – it’s literally every member of your party from moderate to more progressive, and they indicated this in the past,” Jones remarked.
In another development, California Democrat Maxine Waters seemed to confirm that Democrats are pushing for benefits for illegal immigrants during a heated exchange with reporters on Tuesday.
Vice President JD Vance highlighted in an appearance on “Fox and Friends” that Democrats aspire to reinstate a program from the Biden administration that allegedly allocated taxpayer healthcare costs to illegal immigrants. “It’s not something we created,” Vance clarified. “That’s in the actual text of the bill they initially provided us to reopen the government.”
