Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday accused Democrats of using “sleight of hand” tactics in budget negotiations, claiming their demands to reopen the government are centered on restoring taxpayer-funded health care benefits for illegal immigrants.
In a video message posted to X, Vance said Democrats were being dishonest when they insisted the current government shutdown had nothing to do with health care for noncitizens. He argued the legislative text proves otherwise.
“There are two very specific ways — and you can look at the legislative text — two specific ways in which the Democrats are asking us to give taxpayer-funded health care benefits for illegal aliens,” Vance said.
He pointed first to programs under the Biden administration that reimbursed hospitals for treating undocumented immigrants.
“That’s bad for American citizens who want to use those services. It’s also bad for American taxpayers, who don’t want to pay for illegal aliens to use those services,” he said. According to Vance, the Trump administration shut down that program in its “One Big Beautiful Bill,” but Democrats want it restored — at a projected cost of “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
The vice president also highlighted parole programs enacted under Biden, which he said granted mass entry to illegal immigrants by reclassifying them as parolees. Those parolees, he noted, became eligible for taxpayer-funded health benefits.
“We turned that off as well,” Vance said. “Democrats want to turn it back on.”
Framing the dispute as a hostage situation, Vance argued that Democrats are conditioning government funding — including military paychecks — on Trump agreeing to reinstate benefits for illegal immigrants.
“It’s not just bad policy,” he said. “We are not going to negotiate while being held hostage.”
Vance called on Democrats to vote for the Republican-backed continuing resolution that would reopen the government without the added provisions.
“Turn the government back on, and then we can have a debate about health care policy,” he said.
The issue surfaced in sharper relief during an interview between House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and CNN’s Jake Tapper. When pressed on specific language in the Democratic proposal, Jeffries initially denied Republicans’ claims, calling them “a lie.”
But Tapper countered, pointing to provisions restoring emergency Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals treating undocumented immigrants and extending benefits to asylum seekers and individuals with “temporary protected status.”
“Why even include that?” Tapper asked. Jeffries did not directly answer.
Republicans argue that funding for illegal aliens’ healthcare is undoubtedly in the Democrats’ funding bill.
“It’s in writing,” the vice president stressed. “It’s not a talking point. It is in the text of the bill that they initially gave to us to reopen the government.”
Critics argue Democrats are misrepresenting the stakes by tying the shutdown to health care provisions that do not expire until next year.
“That premium support program doesn’t even expire until next year,” Vance said. “So why are you shutting down the government on Oct. 1 because of a program that doesn’t even expire for another few months?”
The White House and GOP leaders have said they remain open to debating health care policy separately but insist Democrats must first pass a “clean” funding bill to reopen the government.
The standoff, now in its first week, has left federal agencies preparing for layoffs and forced ICE agents and other law enforcement officers to continue working without pay.