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Last year amid the global COVID-19 crisis, Illinois became the first state to expand publicly funded health care to all low-income immigrant seniors, including those living in the country illegally.

In a recent WJPF radio interview, state Sen. Terri Bryant of Murphysboro brought up the program after a caller asked how many illegal aliens Illinois taxpayers are now responsible for.

Bryant used the question to criticize Illinois for being too soft on illegal immigration, suggesting without evidence the states policies are somehow connected with violent crime in Chicago and repeating a consistently debunked claim about the city having the nations strictest gun laws.

She also took aim at the state for expanding health care coverage to undocumented immigrants, suggesting those over a certain age are now eligible for health care benefits not available to citizens:

In this budget, we now allow for Medicaid for undocumented individuals who are 55 and older, the Republican said. So last year it seemed like it stayed very quiet, I dont know why more people werent talking about it it was 65 and older. This year they slipped in 55 and older. So you may be 55 years old in this state and a citizen and not eligible for Medicaid. But if you are an undocumented immigrant and 55 or older, youre eligible for Medicaid.

We were curious what Bryant was talking about when she said being undocumented and 55 years or older would make someone eligible for Medicaid benefits in Illinois. After all, Medicaid is a need-based program, meaning only applicants who meet certain income requirements qualify.

We called Bryants office to speak with her about what her claim was based on, but did not hear back.

Undocumented immigrants face limited access to health care, with federal law restricting them from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces.

In addition to becoming the first state to provide coverage for low-income seniors whose immigration status disqualifies them from federal programs, Illinois is one of six states funding its own program to cover income-eligible children regardless of immigration status. California, one of the other states that covers minors, expanded its program to include young adults in 2020 and last week approved a plan to cover low-income immigrants age 50 and over beginning next year.

Illinois moved to create two programs expanding coverage for older immigrants left out of federal programs. Last year, state lawmakers used the budget to create a program providing noncitizens living at or below the federal poverty level who are at least 65 years old with access to some Medicaid-like benefits regardless of their immigration status. The age and income requirements for that program mirror those for a version of Medicaid called Aid to the Aged, Blind, and Disabled, though the benefits for the immigrant seniors are not as expansive.

The budget lawmakers and the governor approved this year created a program set to launch by the end of next May providing benefits identical to Medicaid to noncitizens aged 55 through 64 who would be eligible for Medicaid if not for their immigration status.

Under Medicaid itself in Illinois, U.S. citizens and noncitizens with legal status 19 years and older are eligible for coverage if their income is within 138% of the federal poverty level. That same income requirement applies to noncitizens who will be eligible for the states new program, according to Jane Longo, deputy director of new initiatives at the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services.

So, with the exception of immigration status, a 55-year-old who is undocumented would have to meet the same criteria as a 55-year-old citizen to qualify for coverage in Illinois.

Bryant drew a false comparison, since theres no scenario in which U.S. citizens would fail to qualify for Medicaid, as long as they fell within the proper income range.

Bryant said you may be 55 years old in this state and a citizen and not eligible for Medicaid. But if you are an undocumented immigrant and 55 or older, youre eligible for Medicaid.

This is a false comparison.

No U.S. citizens would be barred from Medicaid unless their income was too high to qualify. And the beneficiaries of the Illinois plan who are in the U.S. illegally would also have to fall below the same income restrictions.

We rate Bryants claim False.

FALSE The statement is not accurate.

Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

The Better Government Association runs PolitiFact Illinois, the local arm of the nationally renowned, Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking enterprise that rates the truthfulness of statements made by governmental leaders and politicians. BGAs fact-checking service has teamed up weekly with the Sun-Times, in print and online. You can find all of the PolitiFact Illinois stories weve reported together here.

Illinois Is First in the Nation to Extend Health Coverage to Undocumented Seniors, Kaiser Health News, Jan. 7, 2021

Radio interview with state Sen. Terri Bryant, WJPF, July 13, 2021

Health Coverage and Care of Undocumented Immigrants, KFF, July 15, 2019

Emails and phone call: Jamie Munks, spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, July 15 & 16, 2021

Public Act 101-0636, 101st Illinois General Assembly

Coverage for Immigrant Seniors, Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, accessed July 15, 2021

Public Act 102-0016, 102nd Illinois General Assembly

Affordable Care Act, Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, accessed July 16, 2021

Phone interview: Jane Longo, deputy director of new initiatives at the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, July 16, 2021

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Fact-check: Republican Terri Bryant wrong on Medicaid eligibility for Illinois undocumented immigrants - Chicago Sun-Times

In voting to impeach Donald Trump in January, representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger threw their political futures into disarraythe two could end up losing their seats to pro-Trump primary opponentsbut their stand against the former president has paid off in other ways. Cheney, who was purged from the GOPs House leadership in May, hauled in a record-setting $1.88 million from April to June. Cheneys 2022 reelection war chest has now exploded, totaling nearly $3.5 million for the year, according to Politico. Kinzinger, a Chicago-area representative who joined Cheney in becoming the face of anti-Trump Republicans, received a fundraising boon of his own this year. He netted $1.1 million in the first quarter to spend on his reelection efforts, despite not receiving more than $350,000 in one quarter during his last reelection cycle.

For Cheney the fundraising victory is a hopeful development. Liz is demonstrating the type of effective, principled leadership that Wyoming deserves from its representative, Cheney adviser Kevin Seifert said in a statement to Fox News. She will continue to fight the Biden administrations overreach and articulate how Republicans can offer a better way forward for the nation. Its encouraging to have so many join her effort. Denver Riggleman, an anti-Trump Republican and former representative who is friends with Cheney and Kinzinger, suggested to Politico that the pairs fundraising wins could lead quietly like-minded GOP members to resist Trumps iron grip on the party. Theyre very encouraged by what they see in fundraising and by what theyre starting to hear on the ground, Riggleman said. Nobody thinks of cascading effectsThe fact is, theres a significant portion of Republicans who do not support Donald Trump anyway, whore looking at Adam and Liz to sort of carry that conservative banner nationally.

But other Republicans are not convinced. Anyone who thinks theres a different path for higher office in a Republican primary other than the Trump platform is delusional, noted Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, questioning the idea that Cheney and Kinzinger might use their funds to pursue higher office in the future. I have not spoken with Liz or Adam about their long-term goals. However, maybe looking at the battle they face in a primary, they think higher office is an easier path. And as of now, Cheney and Kinzinger are clearly unwelcome in MAGAland. Trump included both on his list of losers who represent whats really wrong with the Republican Party in a statement last month.

In a more personal condemnation, Trump said of Cheney, Heartwarming to read new polls on big-shot warmonger Liz Cheney of the great state of Wyoming. She is so low that her only chance would be if vast numbers of people run against her which, hopefully, wont happen. They never liked her much, but I say shell never run in a Wyoming election again. As for Cheneys Republican challengers, none of them have been granted Trumps coveted endorsement just yet. But hell have no shortage of options, as at least half a dozen Republicans plan to run against her, including Wyoming state senator Anthony Bouchard and state rep. Chuck Gray, who have already hauled in $334,000 and $173,000, respectively.

The primary threat hasnt prevented Cheney from again calling out those in her party who have refused to accept Joe Bidens decisive victory or are attempting to whitewash the January 6 insurrection. I will absolutely stand for the truth and I will reject partisanshipwherever it comes in, Cheney, the only Republican on the select committee investigating the attack, told CNN on Wednesday. And I think thats been very clear from the beginning of this: My obligation is to the Constitution.

Cheney and Kinzingers intraparty rivals have also been raking in donations. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who took over Cheneys leadership position upon her ousting, earned $1.5 million in donations over this years second quarter, according to Politico. After raising a fist in support of the pro-Trump rioters who broke into the U.S. Capitol, Senator Josh Hawley raised more than $3 million in the first quarter of 2021. (Hawley threw in against Cheney during the push to remove her, saying that she was spiraling and out of step with Republican voters for opposing Trump.) And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right and QAnon-affiliated lawmaker who personally helped spearhead the attack against Cheney, raised more than $3.2 million of her own in the first three months of this year.

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Anti-Trump Republicans Are Raising Money Hand Over Fist - Vanity Fair

To the Editor:

Re Biden Portrays a Right to Vote as Under Siege (front page, July 14):

The answer to President Bidens question to the Republican lawmakers Have you no shame? is yes, they have no shame. Democratic politicians should not make an assumption that they are working across the aisle with a political party of integrity, one that plays by the rules, respects the norms and cares about the American people. That is not the Republican Party of today.

Republican lawmakers care not at all about democracy, only about obtaining and keeping power. And they are willing to do anything to that end. They lie to their constituents, especially promoting the Big Lie about election fraud in 2020. They suppress voting rights. They gerrymander to such a great extent that they negate the voices of many Democratic voters.

It is time the Democrats realize whom they are dealing with, and act accordingly. They need to be aggressive. The right to vote is what our democracy is about. There is nothing more important. There needs to be an exemption from the filibuster for voting rights.

Ellen SussmanBrooklyn

To the Editor:

The Senate appears unlikely to agree to even a carve-out suspension of the filibuster in order to enact voting rights legislation. And Democratic lawmakers in Republican-controlled state legislatures have few tools to prevent the passage of new voter suppression laws. Legal challenges will take years to work their way through the courts.

Democrats need to counter by committing their time and money to grass-roots state-by-state efforts to register new voters, to assist voters in obtaining proper ID and to ensure that anyone wishing to vote can get to a voting site. One need only to look at the success of Stacey Abramss Fair Fight in Georgia as a model to expand voter participation.

Joseph R. AdesIrvington, N.Y.

To the Editor:

President Bidens query to the G.O.P., Have you no shame?, is a textbook example of a rhetorical question.

Robert E. LehrerChicago

To the Editor:

Re Delta Variant Widens Gulf Between 2 Americas (front page, July 15):

As the Delta variant races like a Western wildfire across the red states of the Deep South and Southwest, it becomes increasingly obvious that one man and one man alone is responsible for the extent of Covids mass casualties. That man is Donald Trump. The ex-president no doubt fancied himself too macho to wear a mask. He feared, in all his vainglory, that he would look weak.

Before long, Mr. Trump deftly politicized the wearing of masks, rallying his troops to stand up for their rights and reject them. And now, predictably, we have the politicization of lifesaving vaccinations.

Donald Trump is singularly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of human beings, many of them his followers. He could have embraced the use of masks and his legions would have stood four-square behind him. Instead, many of these skeptics are dead. I cant imagine the regret that someone experiences in the waning moments of life when one realizes that his or her impending death was preventable.

Bob FriedAllentown, Pa.

To the Editor:

Re Tennessee Virus Official Who Urged Shots for Teens Says She Was Forced Out (news article, July 14):

Ninety-six years after the infamous Scopes trial, the state of Tennessee is at it again. In 1925 the state fought to keep the science of evolution from influencing children. Now the states top official responsible for immunizations says she was fired for encouraging teenagers to get vaccinated.

This act is a wake-up call for the nation. For a segment of the American population science is irrelevant. Clear expressions of the importance of vaccines in protecting the health of all Americans will not move them. They will respond only if compelled to vaccinate themselves and their children.

Just as we require a number of childhood vaccinations to attend public schools, we must now require Covid-19 vaccinations for teachers and all students over 12 to attend schools and college.

Sidney WeissmanChicagoThe writer is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine.

Do You Want to Follow Your Dreams? Heres How.

To the Editor:

Re Advice for Artists (Opinion guest essay, July 9):

Viet Thanh Nguyen provides some very useful and welcome advice to students who may perceive a conflict between their dreams and what their parents have in mind for them. But it is also important to recognize that finding out what those dreams are can often take time.

Students should not feel the pressure we often impose upon them to come to college with their futures already mapped out in their minds. That is what the journey of an education is all about, especially one rooted in the liberal arts. This is best accomplished by providing students with a first-year seminar where they encounter worlds and viewpoints unknown to them, all with the goal of learning who they are and what they are meant to achieve.

During my almost three-decade teaching career, I have witnessed students come alive in such courses in ways they never imagined. Most important, the arrow goes both ways. I have seen students discover that they were meant to be not only writers and artists, but doctors, mathematicians and engineers, as a result of such courses.

And quite often it isnt until many years later, reflecting back on what they learned, that the realization occurs. We need to make sure that everyone not only students understands that dreams change. The most important thing is to have them at all.

Lisa M. DollingVillanova, Pa.The writer is a teaching professor of philosophy at Villanova University.

To the Editor:

Viet Thanh Nguyen gives good advice on strategies for young creatives to address the expectations of their parents. But he leaves out an important demographic: the doctors, lawyers and engineers who were not brave enough to stray or found fulfillment in their careers, but continue to harbor creative interests.

I chased my parents vision of the American Dream, going to Harvard and Stanford and becoming a doctor. But in that quest, I unconsciously suppressed the creative parts of myself until I rediscovered the humanities in medical school.

So maybe there is also a third path: to do both. Its never too late to make societal contributions in our professions by day, and be storytellers and dreamers, too.

Arifeen RahmanSan Jose, Calif.The writer is a resident in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Stanford.

To the Editor:

Re Restaurant Shuts Down for a Day of Kindness After Customers Make Its Staff Cry (nytimes.com, July 14):

Long before I earned my Ph.D. and became a public historian, I was a bus girl at a restaurant just a few doors down from Apt Cape Cod. Pouring water and clearing plates for rich people taught me just as much about power, labor and class as any of my graduate school work.

But as an academic I learned that while individualized solutions like the day of kindness for the employees of Apt Cape Cod can help workers at one restaurant, at other places horrible bosses cause as much stress as bad customers.

Stronger protections for the most marginalized might not do anything to curb the bad behavior Ive experienced and continue to witness from entitled summer visitors, but at the very least it will ensure that workers can earn a living wage, support their families and have a couple of days off a week to enjoy the beach.

Kimberly ProbolusWashington

Excerpt from:
Opinion | The Republican Attacks on Voting Rights - The New York Times

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Ted Cruz and two dozen Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, filed an amicus brief Tuesday in a Second Amendment case the Supreme Court is set to hear this fall, arguing that New York gun law violates the right to bear arms under the Constitution.

Cruz and his GOP colleagues filed a brief in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which the Supreme Court granted cert for in April.

The high court, in its October 2021 term, is set to consider whether the Second Amendment allows the government to prohibit ordinary law-abiding citizens from carrying handguns outside the home for self-defense.

New York law prohibits carrying a firearm outside the home without a license and then makes it extremely difficult to get a license. New York requires people to show cause why they should get a license.

The Republican senators argued that the New York law violates the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, arguing that the point of including this right in the Constitution was so that the decision would be taken out of the hands of state and federal legislators.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nomination of Samantha Power to be the next Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Tuesday, March 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)

"Legislatorswhether in Albany or Washington D.C.have neither the power nor the authority to second-guess the policy judgments made by the Framers and enshrined in the Constitution," Cruz and his Republican colleagues wrote in the amicus brief.

"Firearms policy can be complex, and members of Congress, like state and local officials, may disagree vehemently," they wrote. "But elected officials swear to support and defend the Constitution and so much respect when the Framers took a decision out of their hands.

"The Second Amendments guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms cannot be second-guessed by legislators across the country who simply disagree with the choice the Framers made," they wrote.

Cruz and McConnell were joined by GOP Sens. John Barrasso, Marsha Blackburn, John Boozman, Mike Braun, John Cornyn, Tom Cotton, Kevin Cramer, Mike Crapo, Steve Daines, Josh Hawley, John Hoeven, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Jim Inhofe, Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Mike Lee, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Jerry Moran, Jim Risch, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and Thom Tillis in their brief.

New York is among eight states that limit who has the right to carry a weapon in public. The others are: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

View original post here:
Cruz and 24 Senate Republicans file amicus brief defending Second Amendment right to carry - Fox News

Media top headlines July 20

In media news today, reporters hit President Biden for walking back sharp criticism of Facebook, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell made eyebrow-raising remarks about crime in Washington, D.C., and the Washington Post lightheartedly mocked Hunter Biden's art.

"The View" co-host Meghan McCain on Tuesday slammed the "factually inaccurate" narrative that Republicans are the main drivers behind low coronavirus vaccination rates across the country.

During a discussion with her co-hosts about vaccinations and recommendations for children to wear masks in schools, McCain ripped into the Biden administration for placing blame on Republicans as the reason it failed to meet its vaccination goal, while citing statistics showing high levels of vaccine hesitancy among traditionally non-Republican demographics.

FAUCI SUPPORTS MEDICAL GROUP'S CALL TO MASK 3-YEAR-OLDS AND OLDER IN SCHOOL: REASONABLE THING TO DO

"I think that were all playing whack-a-mole right now in trying to figure out where were at and whats going on. Theres different news coming out of different countries about mask mandates being put in place. I dont think its too far off to think that possibly in like a few months that we could even go back to lockdowns if something like this happens," McCain told co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who asked if she was worried about new recommendations concerning children wearing masks in schools.

"Look, Im really angry because I did every single thing that everyone asked me to do: wear a mask, get vaccinated," McCain added. "When were talking about statistics about people who aren't getting unvaccinated, I think there is this narrative coming out of the White House that its just Republicans, which is just factually inaccurate."

McCain cited official statistics from the state of New York that showed one-third of its hospital workers had still not been vaccinated, expressing astonishment at the number.

MEGHAN MCCAIN'S OFFER TO HELP BIDEN WITH REPUBLICAN VACCINE OUTREACH FALLS ON DEAF EARS: THEY DONT CARE'

"So if youre a hospital worker in New York, one of the most liberal states in the country, and youre not listening to science but you've gone into a field of science, what is not being processed here? What narrative is not going down to you because, Im sorry, hospital workers should not be able to work in hospitals around immunocompromised people if youre not vaccinated," McCain said.

She went on to cite other statistics from the CDC that showed Blacks and Hispanics taking coronavirus vaccines at lower rates compared to the percentage of cases and deaths each demographic made up. The numbers McCain cited specifically related to California and Washington, D.C., two heavily Democratic regions with large minority populations.

"So there are a lot of demographics that are still vaccine hesitant. I dont understand. Conservatives, Hispanic people, Black people, hospital workers What is going on? Why are so many people in so many different places still unvaccinated and still vaccine hesitant?" she asked.

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"Its not just Republicans that are causing this problem. And, yes, some Republicans are, but when you see people like Sean Hannity going on TV last night, doing what he can to say I believe in science and Im vaccinated, like there are those of us that are trying," McCain added. "Im sorry, Dr. Fauci, but if you cant get your hospital workers in New York in line, how are we supposed to do it in any other demographic in the country?"

Read more:
Meghan McCain slams 'factually inaccurate' narrative that Republicans are driving low vaccination numbers - Fox News