During an interview Friday on CNN’s The Lead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) angrily dismissed Republican claims that Democrats’ spending proposal would expand healthcare access to illegal immigrants, calling the accusation “a lot of bull.”
CNN host Jake Tapper pressed Schumer on GOP concerns that Democrats’ plan to repeal part of a Republican budget law would restore federal reimbursements for emergency Medicaid—payments hospitals use to treat uninsured patients, including illegal immigrants. Tapper noted the Trump administration had described this as a loophole allowing federal funds to reach undocumented individuals through emergency medical services.
Schumer rejected the characterization outright. “It’s all a lot of bull,” he said. “Not a single federal dollar goes to undocumented immigrants, not for Medicare, not for Medicaid, not for ACA.”
When Tapper pressed further, asking whether Schumer disputed that hospitals treating undocumented immigrants could benefit indirectly from the proposed funding increase, Schumer doubled down. “Any—no federal dollar is allowed, by law, to go to undocumented immigrants,” he said. “They just came up with this recently because they’re afraid to talk about the merits.”
Republicans argue that repealing the reimbursement reduction would, in practice, channel taxpayer funds to hospitals that treat large numbers of illegal immigrants—functioning as an indirect subsidy. The GOP maintains that Democrats’ proposal undermines the intent of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which limited federal spending on emergency Medicaid for hospitals treating noncitizens.
The dispute comes amid the broader Democrat-led government shutdown, which Republicans say is driven by Democrats’ refusal to accept a clean continuing resolution that maintains restrictions preventing illegal immigrants from accessing federally funded healthcare.
Schumer’s denial echoes statements by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who similarly claimed “not a single federal dollar” is provided to undocumented immigrants through Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act—claims that conservative analysts say overlook indirect funding mechanisms benefiting hospitals serving illegal populations.
