Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2581, the Verify First Act, which will put important safeguards in place to ensure that federal tax dollars are not fraudulently used to pay for illegal immigrants to enroll in Obamacare. Right now, the federal government provides Obamacare premium tax credits to individuals before fully making sure that these individuals rightfully qualify for these benefits. For example, the federal government has wrongfully issued hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits to individuals without first verifying their immigration status. After the money goes out the door, the Internal Revenue Service must attempt to track down these individuals to recoup the money. Last year the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs reported that more than $750 million in taxpayer dollars went to 500,000 people who did not meet the qualifications for those benefits. H.R. 2581 addresses this issue by requiring that the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services to certify that an individual is a citizen, national, or legal immigrant before they receive a health care tax credit. Given that our nation is nearly $20 trillion in debt, we cannot afford to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars in Obamacare tax credits to individuals who do not qualify.…”