United States Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) sparked controversy this week when she stated that healthcare for “everybody,” including non-citizens, is a top priority for Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown.
When questioned on Tuesday outside the U.S. Capitol about Senate Democrats rejecting a stopgap funding bill, Waters told a reporter, “Democrats are demanding health care for everybody.”
The exchange took place hours before the Senate rejected the House-passed bill, triggering a government shutdown.
While Waters denied prioritizing “non-citizens over Americans,” she insisted that Democrats “want to save healthcare for all people.”
Republicans, however, seized on her comments, alleging that Democrats intentionally blocked the funding to secure healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both weighed in, with the President asserting on Truth Social that Waters admitted to “demanding Healthcare for Illegal Aliens,” and that the shutdown was caused by the demand for “billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens.”
A statement from Waters’ office, released by the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, countered the Republican narrative, blaming the lapse in funding on President Trump and Congressional Republicans, branding it the “Trump-Republican Government Shutdown.”
The statement accused Republicans of not wanting to “protect affordable healthcare for millions of hard-working American families” and concluded, “Republicans own this shutdown, as they control the House, Senate, and the White House.”
The government shutdown, which began following the Senate’s rejection of the funding bill, was extended to at least three days as a key vote was pushed to Friday due to the observation of Yom Kippur.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.
