PROTECTING MEDICAID FOR CALIFORNIANS

On 2025-03-27, Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA-3) delivered a floor speech titled "PROTECTING MEDICAID FOR CALIFORNIANS" in the House. The speech addressed immigration and also covered healthcare, taxes.

PROTECTING MEDICAID FOR CALIFORNIANS

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 56 (Thursday, March 27, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 56 (Thursday, March 27, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1330-H1333] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] {time} 1315 PROTECTING MEDICAID FOR CALIFORNIANS (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Kiley of California was recognized for 30 minutes.) Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform folks throughout California and the entire country of one of the biggest scandals in our State's history, which is that Governor Newsom is literally bankrupting Medicaid in our State. He is driving it insolvent through a policy that exists nowhere else in the country, in no other State, a policy of offering free, comprehensive, universal Medicaid, or Medi-Cal as we call it, to the entire population of illegal immigrants in our State who meet the income threshold. No other State has done this, and in California, it has been an absolute disaster. Initially, it was estimated that this unprecedented expansion would cost just a few billion dollars. It turns out that it is going to cost $9.5 billion just for this year. Because of that enormous cost overrun, because of the resulting shortfall of some $6 billion, Governor Newsom has just taken out an emergency loan from the general fund in order to cover payments. On top of that, he has asked the legislature to appropriate even more money, billions more. Think about what this means over, let's say, the next 10 years. If the cost has grown from a few billion dollars to $9.5 billion just in this first year, what can we expect year over year going forward? We are likely talking about hundreds of billions of dollars of money from California taxpayers that will be spent this next decade implementing a policy that exists nowhere else in the country to provide comprehensive care, comprehensive government-provided healthcare, to those who are in our State illegally. Here is the worst thing. Not only is this fiscally unsustainable, but those are funds that could be going to shoring up Medicaid, Medi-Cal, and improving the system, improving access to [[Page H1331]] care, and improving the quality of care for our own legal residents. If you are a California citizen on Medicaid right now, the kind of coverage that you get, the kind of actual delivery of service that you get, likely is not that good. Doctors throughout the State simply will not take Medicaid patients because the reimbursement rate is so low. This policy of Governor Newsom and the supermajority in California is a conscious decision to put the entire solvency of our system at risk, to diminish access to care for our own residents, and to, in fact, make it harder to get appointments because now there is a whole new population that is looking to get into the system and doing so in a way that has no precedent anywhere else in the country. In fact, in many cases, it actually costs the State more money to provide Medicaid to a person who is in the State illegally because, number one, there is no Federal funding for such enrollees, so the State bears almost the entire cost. Even the overall cost, forgetting about who is paying for it, can be higher. When you look at, for example, the rebates for prescription drugs that are available at the Federal level because the Federal Government negotiates in bulk, that is not available for this population that is covered by State funds, so we are actually paying more than we would for our own citizens. Mr. Speaker, this outrageous policy simply cannot continue. I am calling on Governor Newsom and the State legislature to reverse it immediately. That should be the obvious next step when the system has gone insolvent to the extent that the Governor is forced to take out an emergency loan. Here in Congress, I have introduced legislation that will preserve Medicaid benefits in California and across the country for only those who are legal residents of our country. I think we also have an opportunity to rein in what Governor Newsom is doing through the reconciliation process, and I look forward to doing that in order to protect Medicaid for Californians. Update on California's Failing High-Speed Rail Project Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide an update on the latest unbelievable revelations concerning high-speed rail, the high-speed rail disaster in California. Yesterday, California's legislative analyst testified before the State legislature that the project faces a $7 billion budget gap and that the funds must be secured by next June. The legislative analyst's spokesperson said: ``There is no specific plan to meet that roughly $7 billion gap. We also think there is some risk that that gap could grow.'' Indeed, the hearing at which the legislative analyst testified was very brief because the California High-Speed Rail Authority submitted an incomplete update to those who had organized the hearing. The high- speed rail authority can't manage to complete anything on time, even its own reports to the legislature, let alone a high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco or even that very first segment from Bakersfield to Merced, which is now projected to miss the 2033 deadline. Listen to the bipartisan pushback that this is getting. Assembly Member Steven Bennett, a Democrat from Ventura, said: ``We have no plan. We have a good likelihood it is going to get worse, and we have a short time to solve the problem.'' ``The definition of insanity,'' said Democrat Assembly Member Cottie Petrie-Norris, ``is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.'' The truly amazing thing is the legislative analyst testified that this update that the rail authority provided, even this incomplete update, assumes there will still be Federal dollars. They are saying there is a $7 billion budget shortfall for just the next few months, and that has an unrealistic assumption that goes with it that there is going to be further Federal funding. I can say this right now: There will not be further Federal funding. How do I know that? Because I was at a press conference with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, where it was made very clear that this project is a failure. In fact, there is now an investigation that has been launched by the Department of Transportation to claw back billions of dollars that have been granted. I have also asked for an investigation by FBI Director Kash Patel to figure out how it is exactly that they have already spent $17 billion, that the overall cost has grown to in excess of $130 billion, yet no track has been laid after 16 years of some kind of work supposedly being done. Finally, I have introduced legislation to make the high-speed rail project ineligible for further Federal funding at any point going forward, which, again, the rail authority is entirely reliant on the assumption of Federal funding just to get to a point where there is only a $7 billion budget gap for just the first next few months. The fact of the matter is that this project has failed. It is not going to happen. There is absolutely no justification for spending another dollar of taxpayer money, especially when our roads continue to crumble and be rated among the worst in the world. I will be advancing my legislation here, and I am calling on Governor Newsom and the legislature to do the right thing and bring an end to this failed and embarrassing project once and for all. Condemning Classification of Israel as an Adversary Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, today on the House floor, there was an amendment offered that suffered the most overwhelming defeat that I have ever seen in the United States Congress, and for good reason. It is perhaps the most abhorrent legislative proposal I have ever seen in the United States Congress. The Representative from Michigan, Representative Tlaib, introduced a measure that would classify Israel as an adversary of the United States alongside the likes of China, Iran, and North Korea. Fortunately, this proposal was swiftly and nearly unanimously rejected by the House of Representatives. Look at the vote total. A grand total of three people, including the author, voted ``yes.'' Every single other Member, Democrat or Republican, over 400 Members, voted ``no.'' This sent a very important message regarding what was being suggested with this proposal, that one of our most important allies in the entire world, Israel, at this time when it faces so many challenges, is somehow a country of concern, an adversary of the United States comparable to Iran or North Korea, and to single out this one country, Israel, of all the countries in the world. We have seen across America, and in particular on college campuses, deeply disturbing, abhorrent anti-Semitism, which has absolutely no place and that we never thought we would ever see anything like it in this country. I think when you have proposals in Congress that encourage that, that are very much thematically aligned with the pro- Hamas, anti-Semitic encampments that took over universities in the country, it is very important that that is condemned strongly and unequivocally. I am very proud that that is exactly what the House of Representatives did today. {time} 1330 Zero Job Growth in California Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy has just released an absolutely stunning report that shows how deeply Governor Gavin Newsom has driven our State's economy into the ground. Among the findings was that for the month of January, job growth in our State was nonexistent. The number of net jobs that were added to the California economy was exactly zero for the month of January. By comparison, Texas added 27,900; Florida added 16,500; and even New York added 20,100. California added zero. Indeed, California is one of only five St