Illegal Immigrants & Health Care
The Charge
John Gard’s television ad and mailers claim Steve Kagen voted for taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants.
The Facts:
Congressman Kagen never voted to provide taxpayer-funded health benefits - or any other taxpayer-funded benefits - to illegal immigrants.
It is against the law for illegal immigrants to receive any federal benefits - health care, housing assistance, food stamps. These laws have been on the books for a number of years.
Congressman Kagen believes that illegal immigrants should not be rewarded in any way for violating our laws, nor should they receive any public subsidies.
Background
In the last session of Congress, Republicans offered procedural motions that said illegal immigrants should not be able to get federal benefits, even though Republicans knew there were already laws on the books to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving taxpayer-funded benefits.
These motions came up for votes when Congress was considering bills that provide funding for Medicare and children’s health insurance. The motions were written in a way that would have killed those bills if they had passed. Kagen voted against these politically-motivated procedural motions.
[HR 3162 Roll Call 786 8/1/07]
