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WASHINGTON (CNN) -

A group of 23 House Democrats is urging House Speaker John Boehner to postpone his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to address a joint meeting of Congress on March 3.

Three progressive House Democrats -- Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Rep. Maxine Waters of California and Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee -- have been circulating a letter to fellow Democrats for weeks, but on the final letter delivered on Thursday they secured support from just a small fraction of the 188 House Democrats. Those who signed are among the most liberal members of the Democratic caucus.

"The timing of this invitation and lack of coordination with the White House indicate that this is not an ordinary diplomatic visit. Rather this appears to be an attempt to promote new sanctions legislation against Iran that could undermine critical negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran," the letter states.

Congressional Democrats have tried to focus their ire on Boehner, who invited Netanyahu before consulting first with the White House. The letter does not say these members are planning to boycott the speech, but some of those who signed on -- such as Ellison and Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer -- have already announced they won't attend if Netanyahu does speak on the House floor.

The speech presents a dilemma for congressional Democrats. Most emphasize they are strong supporters of Israel, but feel it's inappropriate for a foreign leader to deliver such a high profile address just two weeks before an election in his home country.

Iran sanctions legislation has passed the House with an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the last Congress, but many Democrats say the negotiations could be put at risk if sanctions were pursued now. The low number of members willing to go on the record on the speech signals that the majority of Democrats, although critical of Boehner's invitation and the timing, will likely attend.

Boehner's office says plans for the speech are moving forward.

"Support for the State of Israel in Congress has always been bipartisan, and it should remain so," Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel told CNN.

Earlier this month Israeli officials acknowledged that they were considering changing the plans for the speech before Congress, and discussed the possibility of relocating it to another venue in Washington, D.C. But soon after those discussions surfaced Netanyahu announced in a televised event he remained committed to coming to the U.S. Capitol, and that he planned to discuss his concerns with the U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

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Speech presents a dilemma for congressional Democrats

Task Force TV Politini Interview - Carlos Padilla and Stacey Long Simmons
How are immigration policies affecting LGBTQ undocumented parents? Are transgender immigration detainees being treated fairly in detention camps? Task Force TV is talking immigration reform...

By: National LGBTQ Task Force

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Task Force TV Politini Interview - Carlos Padilla and Stacey Long Simmons - Video

For undocumented immigrants in the United States, obtaining health insurance through the government is next to impossible, with both the Affordable Care Act and a recent executive immigration order explicitly declaring them ineligible for health care coverage. That means many are forced to put off preventative care measures and eventually turn to expensive, overstressed emergency rooms once they become severely ill.

Now, state officials are trying to find ways around the federal government's prohibition and provide various kinds of coverage to immigrants who don't qualify for Obamacare. Using state funds, California and New York are pioneering ways to offer comprehensive coverage for undocumented immigrants and others with temporary work visas. A handful of other states offer limited insurance coverage tosubsetsof immigrant populations. But experts warn such programs remain in the minority, and that the overall lack of health care coverage for immigrants in the United States could result in much higher medical bills in the future.

By 2016, 5.1 million undocumented immigrants in the United States will be uninsured, a group of UCLA researchers hasestimated. In 2012, there were anestimated11.2 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. Under the 1986 policy EMTALA, hospitals cannot turn away a person in need of care, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. Emergency treatment costs to Medicaid amounts to about $2 billion a year, mostly for illegal immigrants, according to a 2013reportby Kaiser Health News. In 2009,researchby the Center for Immigration Studies estimated the cost of treating uninsured and undocumented immigrants at $4.3 billion per year at safety-net facilities like emergency rooms and community health clinics.

Advocates for immigrant health coverage say these sums might be less exorbitant if undocumented immigrants had regular primary care, which would be more accessible if they had insurance. Those bills couldve been drastically reduced, Frank Rodriguez, president of the Latino Health Care Forum, which offers health care outreach and enrollment assistance to the uninsured and underinsured in Texas, said. There are no preventative health measures, so they [undocumented, uninsured immigrants] end up having to use emergency care.

Critics, however,arguethat providing health care to illegal immigrants will encourage more illegal immigration and that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for social services for those in the country without legal status."County hospitals are overwhelmed with uninsured people, and they've been forced to come up with more money to accommodate these people largely because they've encouraged them to come in," Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, hastoldthe Los Angeles Times.

Unauthorized immigrants could theoretically buy private health insurance, but that option is usually prohibitively expensive.Unauthorized immigrants are not eligible for almost any of the federal, state and local health care programs, and they tend to work in jobs that dont carry employer coverage, Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute, said.

The other health care option for undocumented immigrants is federally qualified health centers, which are reimbursed by and receive other funding from the government and do not ask questions about immigration status. But federally qualified health centers dont do much primary health care because theyre not reimbursed [for it], Rodriguez said. If a person sought primary medical services at such centers, they would likely have to pay out of pocket, albeit on a sliding fee scale. The undocumented immigrants wont go, he said.

Alvaro Huerta, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, called it "shortsighted" not to give undocumented and deferred action immigrants access to primary care, given how cost-effective such care be. Every principle of health reform, [for the] documented or undocumented, says, put your money into preventative care, because youre going to be spending 100 times the investment in preventative care when people wind up sick in emergency rooms or hospitals," he said.

On Jun. 15, 2012, the Obama administration issued an executive order granting certain undocumented immigrants immunity from deportation and making them eligible for work permits. A few months later, the administration explicitly restricted its policy so that these immigrants were not eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

California has long been the vanguard for ensuring that immigrants have access to health care and insurance. It allows deferred action grantees under Obama's policies to enroll in Medi-Cal or a parallel public health insurance program, andlawmakers have also proposed legislation to grant all undocumented immigrants eligibility for the same two programs. Most recently, in December 2014, State Senator Ricardo Lara of California introduced SB 4,a bill that tries to make all undocumented immigrants eligible for Medi-Cal.

More:
Immigration, Health Care Reform 2015: States Move To Help ...

But the potential presidential contender laughed it off, joking that he's the rare elected official to be heckled "by both sides of the immigration debate."

"I just hope you bought the book," Rubio said to the protesters as they were removed from the room by security, according to the Washington Post.

Rubio later joked: "If what they wanted was a discount of the book we could have worked it out."

The senator was speaking at Miami Dade College as part of a multi-state tour to promote his book, "American Dreams," as he works to build a national profile in preparation for a potential presidential bid.

POLL: Huckabee, Clinton lead the pack

But the hecklers highlighted the fact that what's perhaps one of his greatest advantages is also part of what's standing in his way to the White House: His leadership in passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate in 2013 that was dead on arrival in the House, countered by heavy conservative opposition.

Rubio's role in that legislative fight was initially seen as a possible crowning achievement for the rising GOP star, but ultimately crippled him with conservatives who saw him as too willing to compromise with Democrats for a bad bill.

The Florida Republican has indeed been heckled before by members of the other party, over his efforts with that bill. During a 2013 Tea Party summit in Florida, Rubio was met with cries of "No amnesty!" from the conservative crowd.

Friday night, he encountered the opposite.

"What about my parents?" one protester cried, per the Post, prompting others to join in. Another swore, for which Rubio apologized to the crowd.

Link:
Rubio heckled by protesters

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was heckled during a Friday night speech in Miami by a handful of young activists opposed to his stance on immigration reform.

But the potential presidential contender laughed it off, joking that he's the rare elected official to be heckled "by both sides of the immigration debate."

"I just hope you bought the book," Rubio said to the protesters as they were removed from the room by security, according to the Washington Post.

Rubio later joked: "If what they wanted was a discount of the book we could have worked it out."

The senator was speaking at Miami Dade College as part of a multi-state tour to promote his book, "American Dreams," as he works to build a national profile in preparation for a potential presidential bid.

But the hecklers highlighted the fact that what's perhaps one of his greatest advantages is also part of what's standing in his way to the White House: His leadership in passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate in 2013 that was dead on arrival in the House, countered by heavy conservative opposition.

Rubio's role in that legislative fight was initially seen as a possible crowning achievement for the rising GOP star, but ultimately crippled him with conservatives who saw him as too willing to compromise with Democrats for a bad bill.

The Florida Republican has indeed been heckled before by members of the other party, over his efforts with that bill. During a 2013 Tea Party summit in Florida, Rubio was met with cries of "No amnesty!" from the conservative crowd.

Friday night, he encountered the opposite.

"What about my parents?" one protester cried, per the Post, prompting others to join in. Another swore, for which Rubio apologized to the crowd.

See more here:
Rubio heckled by immigration protesters