Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson warned Friday on Newsmax that Democrats are “trying to hold the American people hostage” by demanding $1.5 trillion in new spending for illegal immigrant healthcare as a condition to reopen the federal government.
Jackson appeared on “The Chris Salcedo Show,” where he accused Democrat leaders of forcing a government shutdown as political leverage to push a massive expansion of taxpayer-funded benefits for non-citizens.
“The issue is healthcare right now,” he said. “They're trying to hold the American people hostage.
"They want to undo all of the great things that we did in the 'one big, beautiful bill' and that bring back $1.5 trillion of spending on providing healthcare for illegal aliens, $200 billion that they want to provide so they can provide healthcare to noncitizens, noncitizens, paid by taxpayers.”
Jackson said Democrats are prioritizing illegal immigrants over American citizens as working families still struggle with elevated healthcare costs under the Affordable Care Act.
They want to “tax hardworking taxpayers that have difficulty getting access to care because of the broken Obama healthcare system," Jackson said.
"And they want us to pay for the healthcare for these illegal undocumented immigrants. So we do need to do that,” he added, arguing Republicans are willing to engage on reform, but not under coercion and not to finance an expansion of Obamacare.
According to Jackson, Democrats led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., want to force a single-payer, government-only system that would eliminate private choice, increase costs, and reduce access.
“Look, you know, speaker [Mike Johnson] has said he's willing, and he expects to come back and talk about healthcare, about the subsidies involved with Obamacare. We know it does need to be fixed. But you're right. It doesn't need to be fixed by these far-leftist socialists, you know, folks that are out there like Bernie Sanders and AOC. They don't want to fix it. They want to make it worse.”
Republicans passed a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open at current levels, but Democratic leaders blocked it and are refusing to reopen the government without major spending concessions.
The push goes far beyond routine funding disagreements.
Democrats are demanding a shutdown deal that includes $1.5 trillion in new spending.
That includes $350 billion to extend COVID-era subsidies that cover abortion and gender procedures, free Medicaid for 1.2 million illegal immigrants, $500 million for NPR and PBS, reversal of Trump-era spending cuts to fund programs such as global LGBTQI+ initiatives, and limits on the president’s authority to cut government waste.
“They want to completely tie us to only one option, the government providing your healthcare,” Jackson said. “But we’re not going to do it under hostage conditions that they're imposing right now.
"So, we're definitely not going to go back on $1.5 trillion of the great things that were in the one big, beautiful bill. That ain't happening.”
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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