As we noted earlier, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) suggested on Hardball last night that he’d switch his vote on health care reform — from ‘yes’ on the House bill to ‘no’ on the Senate bill.
His office has confirmed to TPM that Gutierrez plans to vote ‘no’ on the Senate bill. Here’s the Democratic congressman’s statement:
At this time, I am a ‘no’ vote on health care. It’s no secret that I have been critical of proposals that would exclude our nation’s hardworking immigrants from the health care exchange, and I would find it extremely difficult if not impossible to vote for any measure that denies undocumented workers health care purchased with their own dollars.
If we bar the immigrant community from buying private insurance with their own money, we relegate them to emergency room care at the highest cost to taxpayers and deny them the important opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to a healthier America. Immigrants are prepared to pay into the system, and excluding them from the private marketplace runs counter to the very goals of health care: containing costs, increasing the use of preventative care and streamlining the health delivery system.
