While the Senate voted down an amendment that would prevent undocumented immigrants from getting health care as part of immigration reform, President Obama planned to push the immigration agenda during a naturalization ceremony Monday.
The Senate voted 56-43 against an amendment Friday that would have prevented undocumented immigrants to receive publicly-funded health care if granted citizenship as part of a deal on immigration reform.
If passed, the proposed amendment would have prohibited such immigrants who gained legal status from accessing health care such as Medicaid or Obamacare.
Notably, the "Gang of Eight" bipartisan Senate panel who is working on a deal on immigration reform was split on party lines on the vote. Republicans such as Sens. Marco Rubio, John McCain Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake voting in favor of denying said immigrants health care access while Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer, Bob Menendez, Michael Bennet and Dick Durbin voted against the amendment.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who sponsored the bill, decried the vote as putting the current negotiations dedicated to fixing the nation's immigration laws in jeopardy.
"The core legal and economic principle of immigration is that those seeking admission to a new country must be self-sufficient and contribute to the economic health of the nation," Sessions said in a statement, as reported by The Daily Caller. "But, for years, the federal government has failed to enforce this law. This principle is even more urgent when dealing with those who have illegally entered the country."
Sessions added that the vote would "will dramatically accelerate the insolvency of our entitlement programs and is unfair to American workers and taxpayers."
However, Menendez argued that adding in amendments at this time during the immigration procedures was unnecessary because the Senate would have to vote on any immigration package, anyway.
"The last thing we need to do in this budget process is to try muck that up," Menendez said, as reported by Roll Call. "This is not a great way to try to do your out reach to the Hispanic and immigrant community."
Meanwhile, President Obama plans to continue his push on immigration reform Monday during a naturalization ceremony.
According to the Washington Times, Obama will be attending a swearing-in ceremony at the White House where 28 new U.S. citizens will become official U.S. citizens. At that event, the president is scheduled to speak, and will likely address the need for Congress to pass a bill reforming the nation's immigration laws as quickly as possible.
"While the president remains pleased that Congress continues to make progress towards commonsense immigration reform, he believes Congress needs to act quickly, and he expects a bill to be introduced as soon as possible," the White House said in a statement.