House Approves 9/11 Health Coverage Without Immigration Scuffle
A House bill to provide medical treatment to workers who helped in the aftermath of 9/11 passed yesterday without a predicted fight over including illegal
Jul 31, 2020103.8K Shares1.9M Views
A House bill to provide medical treatment to workers who helped in the aftermath of 9/11 passedyesterday without a predicted fight over including illegal immigrants in the legislation.
There was some fearthat Republicans would introduce an amendment barring illegal immigrants who worked at Ground Zero from aid under the $7.4 billion proposal. If this happened, moderate Democrats reportedly hoped House leadership would remove the bill from the floor to prevent them from a contentious vote close to the election.
The fear turned out to be baseless: No such an amendment was proposed, and those who opposed the bill argued about finances, not illegal workers. “This legislation as written creates a huge $8.4 billion slush fund…open to abuse, fraud and waste,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said during the debate Wednesday.
The bill passed 268 to 160, with 17 Republicans voting for the measure and 3 Democrats voting against it.
Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
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