Republican Senators Challenge Biden Administration on New DACA Rule for Obamacare Access

Four Republican senators are pressing the Biden administration for answers over its announcement that it would make some immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally eligible for government-backed health care coverage.

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (TN), Kevin Cramer (ND), Mike Lee (UT), and J.D. Vance (OH) demanded that Becerra provide more details about a plan announced on Friday to allow immigrants with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status to enroll in Obamacare. The Biden administration estimated that the coverage could impact around 100,000 DACA recipients.

“At a time when our nation has endured record numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, this announcement sends a clear message: fixing the manufactured border crisis is the last thing that the Biden administration wants to do,” the Republicans wrote. “In Biden’s economy, inflation is on the rise while job growth is slowing down. Unemployment is at a two-year high, and foreign born workers are flooding the workforce.”

“When America’s borders are open and our citizens’ wallets are hurting, the last thing this administration should be doing is providing free health care coverage to immigrants,” the letter added. “The American people deserve answers on such a disastrous policy.”

The decision was made possible by a Biden administration rule changing the definition of “lawfully present” to include DACA recipients, who were given special status after their parents brought them to the United States as children illegally. The rule will go into effect just before the presidential election, as DACA recipients will be able to register for coverage on November 1.

The Senators asked Becerra to provide the legal justification for expanding Obamacare eligibility without congressional authorization and for the Biden administration to estimate the expansion’s cost. Additionally, the Republicans asked if coverage would only apply to DACA recipients or include their family members.

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In September last year, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the DACA program was unconstitutional because the executive branch had to “usurp” congressional authority to enact the policy.

“While sympathetic to the predicament of DACA recipients and their families, this court has expressed concerns about the legality of the program for some time. The solution for these deficiencies lies with the legislature, not the executive or judicial branches. Congress, for any number of reasons, decided not to pass DACA-like legislation,” Judge Andrew Hanen wrote.

The case is currently being reviewed at the appeals court level and could eventually reach the Supreme Court.

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