On Thursday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that “the people who benefit from the Affordable Care Act might be here because of the asylum process that I’ve said, many times, I didn’t agree with, that Joe Biden did, it was way too wide and way too broad,” is a small amount.
Host Chris Cuomo asked, “Yes, they’re playing games with illegal versus lawful and who gets what services and even Republicans…were in favor of the reimbursements to states. It was about upping it to 90%. Everybody knows you’ve got a moral and legal imperative to give emergency services to people, whether they’re here legally or not. Republicans have warm blood in their veins as well. What I’m saying, Adam, is, you guys can give on that, the reimbursement rate could come back down to what it used to be. Asylees may be here lawfully, but it’s kind of fugazi, because 90% of them don’t get asylum. So, it’s a run-around that allows them to get treated like they’re lawful when they’re not. Why don’t you give on that?”
Smith responded, “Sure, sure, no, no, that’s fine. I can give on that. But you’re missing the bigger point, here, okay. Whatever tiny little percentage of the people who benefit from the Affordable Care Act might be here because of the asylum process that I’ve said, many times, I didn’t agree with, that Joe Biden did, it was way too wide and way too broad, whatever tiny little percentage of that, you’ve got millions of other Americans who are going to lose health care as result of that, number one. And number two, I’ve got to keep coming back to, if we vote in favor of the Republican budget, to continue the Republican budget, we are voting in favor of an unprecedented abuse of power that we believe passionately has been damaging to the country.” And that Republicans rejected Democrats’ proposal to keep the government open.
In another interview earlier in the day on “CNN News Central,” Smith stated that “the Trump administration is busily pulling back that asylum status from thousands — hundreds of thousands of people and deporting them. So that number is going to be a lot smaller, but it is a tiny percentage of the people who are facing healthcare cuts because of the Republican budget.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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