WASHINGTON, D.C. — Thanks to votes by New Jersey’s two Democrat senators, undocumented migrants can keep their free federally funded healthcare plans.
On June 30, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) were among 47 senators who voted against a Republican-led amendment that sought to prohibit federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for individuals without verified citizenship or immigration status.
The motion, tied to Amendment No. 2401 to H.R. 1, required 60 votes to pass and was rejected in a 53–47 vote. The amendment would have barred undocumented immigrants from receiving federally funded healthcare through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
According to the amendment’s summary, it aimed “to prohibit Federal financial participation under Medicaid and CHIP for individuals without verified citizenship, nationality, or satisfactory immigration status.”
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer of New York, as well as John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, also voted against the amendment. All are Democrats.
The vote came during consideration of broader legislative amendments to H.R. 1, which remains under debate in the Senate.
The motion’s failure allows existing eligibility policies for Medicaid and CHIP to remain unchanged for now.
