An effort to block illegal immigrants from receiving Obamacare health benefits in the illegal immigration bill could also wind up being an incentive for American employers to hire non-citizens over citizens.
The Weekly Standard tried to get a status update, and some basic questions answered on this point by 5 separate senators, including Montana’s Senator Max Baucus (D-MT):
It would be too politically toxic to give illegal immigrants amnesty and taxpayer subsidies under Obamacare, so the Senate bill prohibits “registered provisional immigrants” (individuals who are now residing illegally in the United States granted legal status under the bill) from receiving Obamacare subsidies. But in so doing the Senate’s immigration bill would create a big financial incentive for some employers to hire non-citizens granted legal status over American citizens.
On Tuesday afternoon, THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked five different U.S. Senators about this problem. These five senators, all Democrats, voted to cut off debate Monday night on the revised immigration bill, but none of them knew if the bill would create a financial incentive for some employers to hire amnestied immigrants instead of American citizens.
“We’re trying to solve that right now. I don’t know if that’s been solved,” Senator Max Baucus of Montana (chief author of Obamacare) told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
Senator Baucus and Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI) are holding hands at event after event promising comprehensive tax reform. So far, it doesn’t sound like any details are being publicly discussed at any of these events. Maybe it’s time for Baucus and Camp to get serious and offer some details…
Here’s the latest from Politico:
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) traded their plush Capitol Hill offices Tuesday for a table at the divey Irish Times bar a few blocks away.
Sitting over a platter of sliders, club sandwiches, portobello mushrooms, fries and salads, Camp and Baucus — along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both chambers — worked to forge the type of relationships that will be necessary to pass a comprehensive tax reform bill for the first time in nearly 30 years.
They’re planning to take their tax reform pitches on the road later this year and say they hope to continue hosting similar lunches throughout the summer.