{"id":2375,"date":"2007-10-12T06:43:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-12T12:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/colleagues-mccamley-dispute-pearces-schip-claim\/"},"modified":"2007-10-12T06:43:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-12T12:43:00","slug":"colleagues-mccamley-dispute-pearces-schip-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/colleagues-mccamley-dispute-pearces-schip-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Colleagues, McCamley dispute Pearce’s SCHIP claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One of the reasons U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., has given for his opposition to a bill that would expand a children\u2019s health insurance program is that it would allow undocumented immigrants to receive government-funded medical care. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s an assertion three of Pearce\u2019s colleagues in the New Mexico delegation say is false, and one that prompted a Democrat seeking the GOP congressman\u2019s seat to call him a liar.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce and other House Republicans who recently voted against the State Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program<\/a> (SCHIP) bill are coming under increasing pressure as Democrats and moderate Republicans work to secure enough votes to overturn the president\u2019s veto of the bill. The proposal would expand the program by $35 billion to cover another 4 million children, and fund it through an increase in the federal cigarette tax.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There are enough votes in the Senate to overturn the veto, but supporters of the bill in the House are some 20 votes short of that goal. House Democrats are preparing another push on the bill late next week.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce held a tele-town hall meeting on SCHIP last week \u2013 a conference call involving residents who answered the phones and opted to participate. According to a news release from Pearce\u2019s office, tens of thousands of people across the Second Congressional District were called. Those who didn\u2019t answer received a voice mail<\/a> that included this statement from Pearce:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI support providing assistance to low-income children, but I oppose expanding those benefits to adults, people making up to $80,000 per year and illegal aliens, all of which this proposal would do,\u201d said Pearce, New Mexico\u2019s only lawmaker in Washington who voted against the bill.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley<\/a>, one of two Democrats running for Pearce\u2019s seat next year, pointed to a provision in the bill titled \u201cNo federal funding for illegal aliens,\u201d which states that \u201cnothing in this act allows federal payment for individuals who are not legal residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, Steve Pearce became the only New Mexico<\/st1:country-region> representative in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to vote against health care for 11,000 of our children,\u201d McCamley said. \u201cNow, he is lying about the program to his constituents in a call that was paid for by taxpayer money. This is just wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce spokesman Brian Phillips pointed to the section in the bill that states that, to qualify for the program, a person must provide a social security number that has to be verified by the Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSince it only requires you show a Social Security number, and we all know how easily those documents can be faked, the majority is not serious about keeping illegal aliens out of the program,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cThere is no way to verify if the documents are false, no way to verify if the person is who they say they are, and no way to verify if they are in this country legally. It\u2019s more than a loophole. It\u2019s an express lane.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

Others say bill would implement stronger checks<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Enrique Knell, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>, R-N.M., said Phillips is wrong. Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has been one of the most visible defenders of the SCHIP bill in Congress.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s actually completely not true and it\u2019s more of a smokescreen, really, to defend a vote against children\u2019s health insurance,\u201d Knell said.<\/p>\n

He said two years ago, a report found that states were lax in verifying citizenship for Medicaid qualification, and Congress responded by requiring states to verify Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration. While it\u2019s easy to create false documents that have fake Social Security numbers printed on them, it\u2019s nearly impossible to obtain a number from the administration in a fraudulent manner, he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The current bill would apply the new Medicaid standard to the SCHIP program for the first time, so it actually strengthens requirements of citizenship verification for the program, Knell said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a>, D-N.M., who helped author the SCHIP bill in the Senate, agreed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill expressly does not cover undocumented immigrants, and in fact it specifically sets in place a rigorous system for verifying Social Security numbers provided as proof of citizenship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Tom Udall<\/a>, D-N.M., said the requirements in the bill \u201cwill ensure that the Social Security Administration checks to make sure that\u2026 benefits go only to those who qualify under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe simple fact is that lawmakers were given a choice between providing health care to children and not providing health care to children,\u201d he said. \u201cOpponents of the bill want to talk about immigrants because they don\u2019t want to talk about that simple choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The office of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>, R-N.M., did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Social Security Administration weighs in<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Phillips pointed to a letter<\/a> a Social Security Administration official wrote to U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery<\/a>, R-La. in September in response to questions the congressman raised about the SCHIP bill. The official stated that the requirement to verify the number with the administration would not \u201cprevent an illegal alien from fraudulently using another person\u2019s valid name and matching SSN to obtain Medicaid and SCHIP benefits,\u201d and it \u201cwould not identify individuals who have illegally overstayed a work visa permit.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though the system is an improvement for those who want greater checks on citizenship because it requires states to verify social security numbers and prevents the use of fraudulent numbers, it doesn\u2019t put foolproof checks in place to ensure people aren\u2019t fraudulently using valid numbers that aren\u2019t theirs. Identification is required to ensure that the person using the social security number is the person to whom the number was issued, but driver\u2019s licenses, for example, can be faked and, in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, legal licenses can be obtained by undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Still, three Republican senators, Orin Hatch<\/a> of Utah<\/st1:state>, Chuck Grassley<\/a> of Iowa<\/st1:state> and Pat Roberts<\/a> of Kansas<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, have all publicly said the bill does not make it easier for undocumented immigrants to receive benefits.<\/p>\n

\n

If a bill increases funding to a program that could be fraudulently accessed by lawbreakers, but puts greater checks in place to ensure that doesn\u2019t happen \u2013 even if they aren\u2019t foolproof checks \u2013 is that \u201cexpanding\u201d benefits to undocumented immigrants, as Pearce claims?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Phillips said the Social Security Administration\u2019s responses to McCrery\u2019s questions show that the bill does allow undocumented immigrants to obtain SCHIP benefits. So what requirements would Pearce want added to the bill?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cOne proposal would require the REAL ID<\/a>-type standards to apply,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cAnything would have been better than the meaningless window dressing in the SCHIP bill that does nothing to address the real problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The READ ID program, which will take effect in December 2009, sets federal standards for obtaining state driver\u2019s licenses, the most controversial being proof of citizenship. New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is one of several states that allow undocumented immigrants to get driver\u2019s licenses as a way of decreasing the number of uninsured motorists on the streets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the reasons U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has given for his opposition to a bill that would expand a children\u2019s health insurance program is that it would allow undocumented immigrants to receive government-funded medical care. It\u2019s an assertion three of Pearce\u2019s colleagues in the New Mexico delegation say is false, and one that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}