Per Democrats and their pet mediaThe facts behind the government shutdown debate over health care and immigrants in the U.S. illegallyOne of the main lines of attack the White House and Republican lawmakers have leveled against Democrats amid the government shutdown is the claim that Democratic lawmakers want to give immigrants in the U.S. illegally free health care — which Democrats deny. “Democrats are holding the American government HOSTAGE so they can give FREE health care to ILLEGAL ALIENS,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said on social media Wednesday. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance accused Democrats of wanting to “take from the American people in order to give taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants.” (snip)The One Big Beautiful Bill Act — passed by lawmakers and signed by President Trump over the summer — significantly restricted noncitizen eligibility for Medicaid coverage, making it only accessible to lawful permanent residents, Cubans and Haitians who entered the U.S. legally and noncitizens from several Pacific islands. -(snip)The Democrats’ funding proposal would restore noncitizen eligibility for Medicaid to the longstanding pre-2025 rules, reopening access for the classes of immigrants who were carved out earlier this year. All of those immigrants are in the U.S. either legally or with the government’s permission.