[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9550-9551]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT EMERGENCY HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chocola). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, let me note that this President is 
taking care of the business of our national security; and, yes, it is a 
tough and hard job to do, and it is a job that requires tenacity and 
character. Our President is providing that leadership. He is not 
cutting and running. He is not trying to claim that the 
responsibilities for defending our country should be put off on the 
United Nations or other organizations.
  In fact, if we have to rely on the United Nations for our national 
defense, as seems to be the Democratic plan, that means that the 
Communist Chinese and the security council would have veto power over 
anything done to protect the United States of America. I do not think 
we want to do that.
  I think our President and Secretary Rumsfeld deserve a recommendation 
for their courage and willingness to stick out a situation until the 
victory is won, otherwise there would never have been any victories by 
American forces anywhere.
  Tonight, however, I am here to talk about another threat to our 
national security, and that is the threat of an uncontrolled flow of 
illegal immigration into our country. On Tuesday, H.R. 3722, that is a 
piece of legislation that I wrote, will be voted on here on the floor, 
probably Tuesday. It is designed to control the flow of illegal 
immigration into our hospitals that is destroying health care in so 
many of our States. This legislation, H.R. 3722, sets the parameters 
for the use of a $1 billion fund for illegal alien emergency health 
care that was allocated in the Medicare bill that passed Congress a few 
months ago.
  If we do not act, this billion dollar fund will create a perverse 
priority at America's emergency hospitals throughout our country, that 
is, we will be using this billion dollars to reimburse the hospitals 
for taking care of illegal immigrants in the emergency rooms, but not 
for American citizens; illegal immigrants then whose emergency health 
care costs will be covered by a Federal grant, and will be given 
priority over uninsured U.S. citizens and legal residents. This is as 
perverse a priority as I have ever seen. What is wrong with this 
picture? We have to act to stop that.
  We are literally telling our legal citizens and legal residents to 
sit in a line while illegal immigrants will be taken care of. My 
legislation, H.R. 3722, will rein in the cost of illegal immigration on 
our health care in several ways. Number one, it is minimal in 
paperwork. It is being charged that my bill will create new paperwork. 
That is a bogus charge. If anyone wants this billion dollars in funds, 
they will have to fill out the paperwork anyway. Hospitals that are 
going to get reimbursed for illegal immigration health care are going 
to have to fill out a couple of forms, not by my bill, but in order to 
get that money. My bill simply says that information has to be 
available to the INS and the INS should start proceedings against an 
illegal alien to get him out of the country if he is sucking up dollars 
in our health care system that should go to American citizens. It also 
requires the hospital to take a Polaroid picture or get a fingerprint 
and ask the illegal who his employer is.
  The reason we ask who his employer is is because H.R. 3722 says that 
if the last employer of that illegal immigrant has not provided health 
care insurance, it is not the taxpayers who should be paying for the 
health care of that illegal immigrant; it is that employer. If we 
cannot show that he has done due diligence, the employer, in trying to 
find out that he is hiring an illegal immigrant, they will have to pay 
for that.
  H.R. 3722 also sets a limit on health care treatment requirements on 
illegal immigrants. Only in life-threatening situations do our 
hospitals have to give treatment to illegal immigrants. Today we see 
billions of dollars, heart transplants, 12-month long treatments for 
leukemia, all of these things, we are talking about billions of dollars 
are being spent for the health care of illegal immigrants. Genetic 
problems that they brought into the country with them, that is coming 
right out of the money that is available to take care of our senior 
citizens and take care of our own young people.
  It is a sin that we are letting that go on. My bill takes care of 
that. It takes care of the mandate on our hospitals saying they have to 
treat anybody who comes in their door. We only have to treat them if 
their life is in danger at that moment, otherwise they get sent back to 
their native country where they can pay for their health care.
  This legislation is being attacked from all sides by bogus arguments. 
Remember, it does not create new paperwork. This bill will be voted on 
on the floor next week. Everyone needs to hear from their constituents 
about whether we believe our limited health care dollars should be 
going to pay for the health care of illegal immigrants. If you think 
that the money, the limited money we have available to take care of 
your family should be spent on someone who has come here illegally, 
then you need to look at who is voting against my bill. But if you 
think we should make sure that our limited health dollars are put to 
use for our own citizens and legal residents, then make sure your 
Congressperson knows, and my colleagues should know that their 
constituents support the idea of making sure that our limited resources 
help our own citizens and legal residents, immigrants who have come 
here legally, rather than being used by people who thumb their nose at 
our law and come here anyway.
  Limited health care dollars should be used for our own people rather 
than providing unlimited care for illegal immigrants. That is the issue 
of H.R. 3722. We will vote on it next week. If you agree with me that 
this money and these resources are important for the health of our 
senior citizens and for the health of our young people and should not 
be dissipated on trying to make America an HMO for the whole world, 
then please make sure that my colleagues understand how their 
constituents feel on this issue.
  I believe my colleagues should be judged on whether or not they are 
concerned about illegal immigration and

[[Page 9551]]

they are protecting the interests of our citizens and legal residents 
by this vote, H.R. 3722. No matter what type of smoke can be blown in 
the air to try to confuse the issue, it is clear: limited dollars 
should go to legal immigrants and citizens. I ask my colleagues to 
seriously consider the consequences of letting this flow of illegal 
immigration dissipate all of our money available to us to take care of 
our seniors in the future.

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