Speech #CREC-2017-06-13-pt1-PgH4875_t17

Thompson, and Joe Wilson. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters of support from NumbersUSA and FAIR, two groups that have been working with me to protect the interests of the American worker and legal immigrants. NumbersUSA, Arlington, VA, May 23, 2017. Hon. Lou Barletta, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Congressman Barletta: NumbersUSA, on behalf of our more than 8 million activists, applauds you for introducing the Verify First Act to ensure that health care tax credits are not paid to illegal aliens or other disqualified aliens. As you know, NumbersUSA opposed the ineffective verification provisions in the Affordable Care Act because we knew they would result in taxpayer-funded subsidies being sent to illegal aliens. Our concerns, unfortunately, were confirmed by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which reported that more than $700 million in Obamacare subsidies had been paid to ineligible aliens by 2015. Like you, we recognized that these same ineffective verification procedures in the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would result in the payment of health care tax credits to illegal or otherwise ineligible aliens. The Verify First Act will require the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to actually verify the citizenship or immigration status of every applicant for a credit under the AHCA before the Treasury Department issues the credit. Both SSA and DHS have established, proven methods of verifying status in a timely and efficient manner, including the E-Verify system, which relies on data from these two agencies to verify work authorization, and the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, which uses DHS data to establish welfare eligibility. Hard-working Americans and legal residents already are struggling to pay for their own health care. There is simply no excuse for the Federal government to force them to subsidize health care for illegal aliens through taxpayer- funded credits. For this reason, NumbersUSA is delighted to support your Verify First Act and we look forward to working with you to make sure it is enacted into law. We also applaud House Republican Leadership and the House Ways and Means Committee for working with you to close this expensive loophole in our health care system.