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Vice President JD Vance smacked down Democrat lawmakers’ “preposterous” claim that Democrats are not trying to provide taxpayer-funded health care benefits to illegal immigrants in an interview with “FOX & Friends” on Wednesday.
Vance said Democrats want to reinstate Biden-era federal funding for emergency healthcare for illegal immigrants that was ended under the Trump administration.
“They say, ‘We’re not actually trying to give health care benefits to illegal aliens,’” Vance said of the Democrats. “And here’s why it’s not true.”
Vance called out two Biden-era programs “that explicitly gave the taxpayer health care money to illegal aliens that we turned off when President Trump took over in January.”
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Vice President JD Vance, right, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speak to members of the media outside the West Wing at the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The first Biden-era program provided illegal immigrants emergency health care at hospitals, the vice president said.
“We turned off that funding because, of course, we want American citizens to benefit from those hospital services, not to be taxed, and then to have those hospital services go to illegal aliens,” Vance said.
President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” tightened who could receive federal payment for emergency treatment and reduced the federal match for emergency-only coverage.
Vance said a second Biden-era program gave mass parole to millions of illegal aliens and simultaneously made the parolees eligible for taxpayer-funded health care.
Vice President JD Vance speaks about tax cuts and support for law enforcement at Concord–Padgett Regional Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Concord, N.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
The “big, beautiful bill” removed parolees from eligibility for taxpayer-subsidized credits that were once provided under the Affordable Care Act by redefining who is an “eligible alien.”
“In the ‘one big, beautiful bill,’ President Trump and congressional Republicans turned off that money to health care funding for illegal aliens,” Vance said.
WATCH THE FULL “FOX & FRIENDS” INTERVIEW WITH VANCE BELOW:
Now, Vance says that Democrats “want to turn it back on” as they engage in a face-off with Republicans to fund the federal government, which entered a partial shutdown Wednesday after the midnight funding deadline passed with Democrats and Republicans failing to agree on a funding bill.
“The first thing that they put out to reopen the government, they actually turned that money for health care benefits for illegal aliens back on,” Vance said.
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The White House’s Rapid Response X account shared an image from the Democrat’s current proposal that repeals a subsection of the “big, beautiful bill” regarding emergency health care for illegal immigrants, along with two other images showing the “big, beautiful bill” table of contents and the actual text of the bill that effectively ended health care for illegal immigrants.
“So it’s not something that we made up,” Vance said. “It’s not a talking point. It is in the text of the bill that they initially gave to us to reopen the government. It’s preposterous for [Democrats] to run away from it now.”
Vance said that the objective right now should focus on reopening the government.
“But look, let’s set that all to the side. Let’s open up the government,” he said. “Let’s negotiate on all these health care policy issues.”
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“Obviously, we’re not going to support health care benefits for illegal aliens, but we will work with them to lower health care costs for American citizens if they’re willing to do so,” Vance said.
