When Barack Obama said in his speech, “The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally,” a sole Republican – Rep. Joe Wilson – burst out, “You lie!”
Wilson’s outburst was immediately denounced by the Republican leadership for its crudity and lack of statesmanship, and Wilson immediately apologized. But Democrats just as immediately pounced on Wilson’s outburst as a foil to depict the Republican Party as “partisan” even as they depicted Obama as transcending such partisanship. Democrats were so bent on playing rhetorical judo against the Republicans over Wilson that the news coverage of the “You lie!” statement literally surpassed Obama’s actual speech.
While it was the most attention-getting, Wilson’s shout wasn’t the only demonstration of displeasure made by Republicans during the speech.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, wore a sign around his neck that said, “What bill?” And when Obama asked Republicans to share their health reform ideas with him, a small group raised up a stack of papers above their heads.
The former protest marks the fact that, when Obama says “his plan” will or won’t do something, it should be pointed out that “his plan” or for that matter the Democrat’s plan in fact does not exist. There’s no bill. There’s no plan. The latter points out that – while Obama and Democrats have repeatedly accused the Republicans of being the “party of no,” they have in fact officially submitted over two dozen of their own bills pertaining to health care in C0ngress. It is blatantly dishonest for liberals to claim that Republicans haven’t attempted to contribute their own bills and ideas. The fact that Democrats have shut Republicans out without debate is hardly the same thing as claiming that Republicans haven’t contributed anything.
It also doesn’t matter to most in the mainline media that Democrats loudly and repeatedly booed George Bush in his 2005 State of the Union – as this snippet reveals. Partisanship and rude behavior only appear to count against Republicans. The crap river only flows in one direction with the mainline media bias.
I’m sure everyone’s familiar with the rhyme, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” Someone’s pants are clearly on fire here. The only question is whose: Joe Wilson’s or Barack Obama’s?
Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner, along with the Congressional Research Service, know whose pants are on fire:
Well, Mr. President, that idea must have been tucked under a stack of background briefing papers over there in the corner of the table because the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says this about H.R. 3200, the Obamacare bill approved just before the recess by the House Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA:
“Under H.R. 3200, a ‘Health Insurance Exchange’ would begin operation in 2013 and would offer private plans alongside a public option…H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange.”CRS also notes that the bill has no provision for requiring those seeking coverage or services to provided proof of citizenship. So, absent some major amendments to the legislation and a credible, concrete enforcement effort in action, looks like the myth on this issue is the one being spread by Obama, Reid, Pelosi, et. al.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) knows whose pants are on fire:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Tuesday, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the “research arm” for the United States Congress, issued a report validating an analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), that illegal aliens would be able to receive benefits under the House health care reform bill, America’s Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200).
The report, Treatment of Noncitizens in H.R. 3200, states definitively, “H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens – whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently – participating in the Exchange.” H.R. 3200 establishes a Health Insurance Exchange which would provide individuals and small businesses with access to health care plans, including the “public option” to be managed by the government.
CRS also confirms FAIR’s assessment that the House bill does not include a mechanism to prevent illegal aliens from receiving “affordability credits” that would subsidize the purchase of private health insurance. CRS specifically noted the absence “of a provision in the bill specifying the verification procedure.” Because the language is ambiguous, all CRS could reasonably conclude is that any eligibility determination would be the responsibility of the Health Choices Commissioner.
The CRS analysis comes after weeks of denials by Members of Congress that illegal aliens could receive benefits under the House bill. These denials were echoed by countless media and health care “experts” who dismissed public concerns as myths, or as politically orchestrated attacks.
“Case closed. Illegal aliens will be eligible to participate in the health care program offered by the House bill unless Congress acts to amend the bill,” stated Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “The loopholes and omissions in the House bill are not there by accident,” continued Stein. “These loopholes were intended to extend benefits to illegal aliens while allowing Members of Congress to deny those facts to the American people.”
The House Ways & Means Committee had the opportunity to include language that would have barred illegal aliens from enrolling in the proposed public option or receiving the affordability credits, but chose not to. An amendment offered by Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) would have applied the same eligibility verification procedures for coverage under H.R. 3200 that have been used for years to prove eligibility for Medicaid. That amendment was rejected by a party-line vote.
So, the bill would allow illegal immigrants to buy insurance on the national health insurance exchange, which is direct confirmation that “our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants.” It’s really quite straightforward, all the media obfuscation to the contrary.
And Democrats have blocked every republican effort to prevent illegal immigrants from benefiting from the ObamaCare bill even as they have claimed that illegal immigrants won’t receive any coverage.
At least one Reuters journalist understands whose pants are on fire, given the title of his article, “Health Bill Could Benefit 6.6 Million Illegals“:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As President Obama addresses the nation on health care reform, a new analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 6.6 million uninsured illegal immigrants could receive benefits under the House health reform bill (H.R. 3200). While the bill states that illegal immigrants are not eligible for the new taxpayer-funded affordability credits, there is nothing in the bill to enforce this provision. Congress defeated efforts to require the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. More than 70 other programs of this kind use SAVE.
The report is available at http://www.CIS.org/IllegalsAndHealthCareHR3200.
And while Democrats may never publicly acknowledge the truth, a number of them are now aware of whose pants are really on fire:
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., was criticized for interrupting Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress to accuse the president of lying about his health care reform plan prohibiting coverage for illegal immigrants. Wilson quickly apologized, and the White House accepted the apology.
Wilson apologized again Thursday morning, though he also says a massive loophole could wind up in the health care bill: no requirement to prove citizenship for health care coverage.
Among three House committees to pass bills for health reform, only one expressly bans federal funding for proving health coverage to illegal immigrants.
“The Congressional Research Service has indicated that indeed the bills that are before Congress would include illegal aliens,” Wilson said. “And I think this is wrong.”
Indeed, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service study found that the House health care bill does not restrict illegal immigrants from receiving health care coverage.
House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner amplified the complaint that without proof of citizenship, illegal immigrants could be insured.
“There were two opportunities for House Democrats to make clear that illegal immigrants wouldn’t be covered by putting in requirements to show citizenships,” he said. “Both of those amendments were, in fact, rejected.”
In the Senate, Democrats in the so called “Gang of Six,” a group of bipartisan senators on the Senate Finance Committee which is the last panel yet to release its bill, began moving quickly to close the loophole that Wilson helped bring greater attention to.
Again, since there is no bill, we can’t know whether or not the loopholes that currently would allow illegal immigrants to get access to ObamaCare will be closed or not.
We can know that Democrats repeatedly refused to provide such closure of loopholes even over repeated Republican efforts to seek such closure.
And we also can know whose pants were on fire Wednesday night: not Joe Wilson’s, but Barack Obama’s.
Joe Wilson’s emotional outburst was rude, unstatesmanlike, and politically stupid. But it also had the virtue of being quite true in what amounted to a sea of half truths that amounted to whole lies.
Even the liberal mainline Associated Press was forced to declare in it’s fact check which in fact is the title of the article: “Obama uses iffy math on deficit pledge.”
Start Thinking Right 