Was Obama Lying About Illegal Immigrants?

Was Obama lying about the coverage of illegal immigrants during his health care speech to Congress?  Rep. Joe Wilson certainly thought he was when he yelled, “You lie!” at the President.  But was President Obama really lying?  The bill does not plainly state that illegals will be covered, and the President’s supporters point to language in the bill that says only U.S. citizens will be eligible.  However, the bill does not require any proof of citizenship in order to obtain government provided medical care.  What this means is that any illegal immigrant could have their health care paid for by simply checking a box that says, “yes I am a U.S. citizen” and they will not be required to provide any proof of the claim.  Republicans have tried to insert language into the bill that would require people to provide proof of their citizenship but Democrats have voted it down.  Why?  CNN (a source not always friendly to conservatives) has the story,

The report, prepared by the nonpartisan policy research arm of Congress, provides a close reading of the treatment of noncitizens in the House bill on health care reform, HR 3200.

While the report found that federal subsidies to obtain health coverage would be restricted to U.S. citizens and legal residents, it also noted that the bill does not specify a citizenship verification system, something that critics say creates a loophole for undocumented immigrants to receive subsidies anyway.

The report, released Tuesday, “undermines the claims of the president and others that illegal immigrants would not be covered under the House version of the bill,” Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, told CNN…
… The bill specifically bars illegal immigrants from receiving payments, but opponents of the reform say that without verification, the system is open to abuse.

Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, last month proposed an amendment in the House Ways and Means Committee to add a verification process. Democrats on that committee, including Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, voted it down because the rules it called for would be “unworkable,” the Democrat said.

So, was the President lying? In a make believe land where all illegals would tell the truth and not claim to be a citizen, then no, the President was not lying. In reality, where all someone has to do is check a box without providing proof of their citizenship, then yes, the President was lying.  Without a system set up where people have to provide proof of citizenship, then illegals will be covered and the President was lying.  Since the bill do es not have such a system in place, the scoreboard looks like this: Rep. Wilson_1, President Obama_0.

The question of whether or not the President was lying got even more interesting yesterday evening.  The White House released a “clarification” of the President’s remarks and a slight change in policy.  According to First Read -MSNBC (another source not generally friendly to conservatives),

The White House tonight is providing the below clarification on what the president’s health-care proposals would mean when it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants.
The question, as we all know, arises from the Wilson “You lie” outburst, and the core claim that notwithstanding specific bill language barring illegal immigrants from participating in the “exchange,” as a practical matter, there is no way of verifying the citizenship of applicants — which is the current state of play. Republicans say that then means illegal immigrants would end up being enrolled in plans – bill language or no bill language.
Today, for the first time as far as we know, the administration is backing a provision that would require proof of citizenship (emphasis added) before someone could enroll in a plan selected on the exchange.
Here, the administration also concedes that hospitals would be compensated with public funds for the care of undocumented immigrants.

If the President was telling the truth during his speech, why was there any need to “clarify” and add a provision to keep illegals from enrolling in the government plan?  The White House also conceded that hospitals providing care for illegals… um… I mean… undocumented immigrants, will be compensated with public funds.  In other words, our tax dollars.

Was Rep. Wilson right?  Do you think President Obama lied about the coverage of illegals during his speech?

Related posts:

1. Person During Obama’s Speech Yells “Liar”
2. Another Scripted Q&A at an Obama Town Hall
3. Obama’s Health Care Plan Provides No Money for Abortions
4. Pelosi’s Plan to Pass Health Care Reform