2007

Washington September 25, 2007 -  In a House vote this evening, Congressman Walter B. Jones (R-NC) voted against H.R. 976, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 – legislation to extend and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – due to a provision in the bill that would make it easier for illegal aliens to fraudulently qualify for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs. The bill passed by a vote of 265 to 159.

“I strongly support renewing SCHIP to help states provide health care to low-income children, but it is absolutely unacceptable to use this program to make it easier for illegal aliens to violate our laws and obtain government benefits,” Congressman Jones said. “This bill defrauds the American taxpayer out of billions of dollars by allowing states to use Social Security numbers in the place of documents that actually prove citizenship status and identity.”

Current law requires that states must determine whether persons applying for Medicaid and SCHIP are U.S. citizens and therefore entitled to participate in these programs. States can satisfy this requirement by having applicants show specified types of identity documents, like drivers’ licenses, passports or birth certificates, when they apply for these programs.

Section 211 of H.R. 976 would substantially weaken the current requirements and make it easier for illegal aliens to break the law and qualify for Medicaid and SCHIP. The language in the bill would allow states to disregard the current requirement to review actual identity documents and instead submit the names and Social Security numbers of applicants to the Social Security Administration (SSA). By overturning the existing federal requirement that states document the citizenship status and identity of individuals applying for public assistance under the Medicaid program, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates federal taxpayers will be forced to spend an additional $3.7 billion over the next ten years.

SSA Commissioner Astrue has indicated that the new provision would allow the following categories of persons to illegally obtain SCHIP benefits: illegal aliens fraudulently using another person’s valid name and Social Security number, legal aliens who are not naturalized citizens and individuals who have illegally overstayed a valid work permit.

As an alternative to H.R. 976, Congressman Jones is one of more than 100 House Republicans to cosponsor H.R. 3584 – The SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 – which would extend SCHIP for 18 months and retain current requirements for citizenship verification.