FIRST ON FOX: Republicans are looking to stop welfare and other benefits from going to illegal immigrants paroled into the U.S. — and they are angling to pass it through the budget reconciliation process, bypassing the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is introducing the “America First Act” on Wednesday, which would change the requirements outlined in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act to explicitly exclude people in the country illegally, including those granted asylum, those who are paroled into the country or people being withheld from deportation.
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Lee is hoping to pass the measure through budget reconciliation. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
These individuals would not be eligible to receive welfare benefits, including participation in programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or certain housing benefits.
“For years, Americans have been told that illegal immigrants are barred from receiving federal benefits to distract from Washington’s complete failure to secure our borders,” said Lee in a statement. “This is a lie. Millions of illegal immigrants ‘paroled’ into the United States, many for fraudulent asylum claims, have gained the ability to access welfare and aid programs originally designed to help American families, not attract and support massive populations of foreign citizens. The America First Act pulls the plug on this criminal redistribution scheme forced upon the American people by Joe Biden and generations of dishonest politicians.”
The bill is also being introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas and Jodey Arrington, R-Texas.
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Border Patrol picks up a group of asylum seekers from an aid camp at the US-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, US, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Justin Hamel/Getty Images)
Many bills have met their doom in the Senate as a result of the legislative filibuster, which can block measures that fail to reach 60 votes on a cloture motion.
However, when a policy is passed through budget reconciliation, which Republicans are set to use in the new Congress to pass key priorities of President-elect Donald Trump, it can be advanced with just a simple majority.
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This is how Lee, Roy and Arrington are hoping to get their legislation over the finish line. The Utah senator is currently negotiating to have the policy included in the upcoming budget reconciliation package, where it would act as a “pay-for” for other items, such as border security.
Lee’s office pointed to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) July report on the “Effects of the Immigration Surge on the Federal Budget and the Economy.” As the senator’s team highlighted, the CBO revealed, “The immigration surge adds $0.3 trillion to outlays for federal mandatory programs and net spending for interest on the debt over the 2024–2034 period in CBO’s projections.”
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Roy and Arrington are introducing the bill in the House. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The Republican bill would additionally remove eligibility of these outlined non-citizens for various educational, healthcare and housing benefits, disaster aid or tax credits.
The White House did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to Julia.Johnson@fox.com.
