On Wednesday Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) introduced the Verify First Act, H.R. 1671, that would require the Treasury Department to work with the Social Security Administration and DHS to verify an individual’s Social Security number before they can receive the health insurance tax credits.
The GOP’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) does not contain a verification process to verify an individual's immigration status to determine their eligiblity.
Rep. Barletta issued a press release explaining that the idea for the bill came from a recent meeting with Pres. Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday on the upcoming AHCA bill. He has said he will not vote for the bill unless he has a guarantee from both the President and Speaker that the House will vote on his bill.
A Senate report revealed that under Obamacare 500,000 illegal aliens were able to receive up to $750 million in taxpayer-funded health care subsidies by 2015.
“In order to stop illegal immigration, we need to end the practice of giving benefits to those who unlawfully enter our country. It is an outrage that a half a million illegal immigrants received three-quarters of a billion dollars in Obamacare payments, while American workers and families were priced out of their health care plans due to Obamacare’s skyrocketing premiums. My bill will protect the American taxpayer by ensuring that no tax credits are given to illegal immigrants,” Rep. Barletta said in the press release.
You can read the full press release here.
