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The Carl Jackson Podcast - How Many California Illegal Immigrants Are You Funding? · Salem Podcast Network

0:01
Speaker 1: All right.
0:01
Speaker 2: Hello and welcome back to The Carl Jackson Show. Your
0:03
Speaker 2: daily dose of objective truth in a world of confusion.
0:05
Speaker 2: We're going to be talking about that. I'm going to
0:06
Speaker 2: break it down. Because their policies are very, very important.
0:11
Speaker 2: We've got to bring restore sanity in America. And I
0:15
Speaker 2: think it's going to start happening.
0:19
Speaker 3: Because these in-home care providers give about $ 150 million a
0:24
Speaker 3: year to the labor unions, which are, of course, Gavin
0:27
Speaker 3: Newsom's number one kind of political power base.
0:30
Speaker 1: And so it is a cycle of corruption.
0:32
Speaker 3: Newsom gives $ 30 billion in taxpayer money to these in-home caregivers,
0:37
Speaker 3: including huge numbers of fraud. These caregivers give money to
0:40
Speaker 3: the unions. The unions give the money back to Gavin Newsom.
0:43
Speaker 3: This is the dirty business of California, and we've blown
0:47
Speaker 3: it wide open. Because these in-home care providers give about
0:51
Speaker 3: $ 150 million a year to the labor unions, which are,
0:54
Speaker 3: of course, Gavin Newsom's number one kind of political power base.
0:59
Speaker 1: And so it is a cycle of corruption.
1:01
Speaker 3: Newsom gives $ 30 billion in taxpayer money to these in-home caregivers,
1:06
Speaker 3: including huge numbers of fraud. These caregivers give money to
1:09
Speaker 3: the unions. The unions give the money back to Gavin Newsom.
1:12
Speaker 3: This is the dirty business of California, and we've blown
1:15
Speaker 3: it wide open.
1:17
Speaker 2: OK, so, guys, I want to get into this story
1:19
Speaker 2: because I think it's so illustrative of what's going to
1:23
Speaker 2: happen to the United States of America as a whole.
1:26
Speaker 2: If we lose the House, if we lose the Senate,
1:29
Speaker 2: God forbid we lose the White House in twenty twenty eight.
1:32
Speaker 2: We already know what Democrats are going to do. They've
1:35
Speaker 2: shown us essentially with the covid lockdowns. But you need
1:38
Speaker 2: look no further than the state of California. to figure
1:42
Speaker 2: out what they're going to do with your taxpayer-funded dollars
1:45
Speaker 2: in order to basically buy votes and to create an
1:50
Speaker 2: entire dependency class. Joining me now, I first met this
1:58
Speaker 2: journalist investigative reporter when I was sitting down for Scott Jennings' show,
2:02
Speaker 2: and he was just so good, so informative. I wanted
2:05
Speaker 2: to have him on my podcast. And so Kenneth Shrupp,
2:09
Speaker 2: of City Journal, investigative reporter. Thank you so much for
2:12
Speaker 2: joining us today. I really appreciate it.
2:15
Speaker 1: Thank you. It's a pleasure. All right. Absolutely.
2:17
Speaker 2: So let's go over some of the details because I
2:19
Speaker 2: think the audience will be wowed by what exactly is
2:23
Speaker 2: going on in California. I was born and raised in California,
2:27
Speaker 2: moved away a long time ago. So I'm now in
2:29
Speaker 2: a safe haven, a state called Florida. that I absolutely,
2:35
Speaker 2: absolutely love, but I still have family in California. And
2:38
Speaker 2: when I go back, Kenneth, I can tell you there
2:41
Speaker 2: were areas in California, I grew up poor, straight up
2:44
Speaker 2: in the hood. And I would always dream of living
2:48
Speaker 2: in certain areas of California, Los Angeles in particular, Los
2:51
Speaker 2: Angeles County. And I go back now and it's like
2:55
Speaker 2: the homelessness is rampant. I mean, I feel like sometimes
3:00
Speaker 2: that I have just entered Mexico to be to be
3:04
Speaker 2: to be, you know, just point blank with you. And
3:07
Speaker 2: it's insane what we see happening. So here's some of
3:10
Speaker 2: the stuff that you uncover. First off, you uncovered with
3:13
Speaker 2: Christopher Rufo there that we just saw in the video.
3:17
Speaker 2: But but California, one hundred and eighty billion dollars annually
3:22
Speaker 2: goes to food, health care and other programs for the poor.
3:25
Speaker 2: That doesn't all go to illegals, but a good portion
3:28
Speaker 2: of that goes to illegal immigrants in the state of California.
3:31
Speaker 1: That's right. You have wraparound services available in California that
3:36
Speaker 1: are accessible to not just citizens, but people who are
3:39
Speaker 1: here illegally. We sat down and we ran the math.
3:42
Speaker 1: We found that if you're a family of five, two
3:44
Speaker 1: illegal immigrant adults, one illegal immigrant grandparent, two U.S. born children,
3:50
Speaker 1: you can collect benefits of over $ 100, 000 a year. And
3:52
Speaker 1: that includes cash as well.
3:54
Speaker 2: I'm... OK, I mean, honestly, I read through I read
4:02
Speaker 2: through this investigative column, basically, that that you guys wrote
4:09
Speaker 2: yourself and Chris, Chris Rufo and Austin Hufford, the name
4:13
Speaker 2: of it. And I'll post it on my social media,
4:15
Speaker 2: California shadow welfare system for illegal immigrants. So you're saying
4:20
Speaker 2: that a family of five, again, just to reiterate, no jobs,
4:25
Speaker 2: no nothing. cross the border illegally into the United States
4:30
Speaker 2: of America, California is a safe haven, and they can
4:33
Speaker 2: essentially receive benefits up to $ 100, 000, including cash benefits.
4:41
Speaker 1: Right. I mean, that's over $ 100, 000 a year. I mean,
4:43
Speaker 1: a lot of this, of course, is coming in the
4:45
Speaker 1: form of health care, including this program from the clip
4:49
Speaker 1: that you just played. It's called In-Home Supportive Services. It's
4:52
Speaker 1: actually now a $ 33 billion program, completely unaccountable, They even
4:56
Speaker 1: ban these randomized unannounced audits to go visit people in
5:01
Speaker 1: their homes to make sure this care is being provided
5:03
Speaker 1: because it's this program where taxpayers are paying someone to
5:07
Speaker 1: take care of you in your home. But most of
5:10
Speaker 1: the time, it's a live-in family member. And so there's
5:13
Speaker 1: very little accountability in this program.
5:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's absolutely astonishing to me. I want to get
5:19
Speaker 2: into some of the specific benefits that illegal immigrants are
5:22
Speaker 2: able to get. And consider this, guys. I was thinking
5:25
Speaker 2: about this. this morning before our guest joined us. And
5:28
Speaker 2: I was just thinking, how many illegal immigrants in California
5:32
Speaker 2: are you funding as a taxpayer? I know this is
5:35
Speaker 2: a California problem, but it's really not. And I'll get
5:38
Speaker 2: into this with my guest momentarily here because they have
5:41
Speaker 2: wraparound programs as he's touched on, which allows federal funding
5:47
Speaker 2: to basically fund these state programs that shouldn't be funded
5:51
Speaker 2: with federal dollars. It's absolutely insane to me. But let's
5:54
Speaker 2: start off with this. the health care benefits that illegals
5:59
Speaker 2: are getting. What does that look like in the state
6:01
Speaker 2: of California?
6:02
Speaker 1: Our team uncovered a few months ago a Honduran, I believe,
6:07
Speaker 1: illegal immigrant homeless living in San Francisco. It was a
6:11
Speaker 1: man who was transitioning to becoming a woman with the
6:14
Speaker 1: assistance of California taxpayers. He had received a breast implant
6:19
Speaker 1: operation and was found by our team walking the streets
6:24
Speaker 1: of San Francisco.
6:26
Speaker 2: I mean, this is insane. And Gavin Newsom, unfortunately, we
6:29
Speaker 2: don't have the video, but Gavin Newsom is very proud
6:32
Speaker 2: of this. He's bragged about this. This is a guy
6:34
Speaker 2: that's I listen, I totally ignore the guy. when he
6:38
Speaker 2: says he's going to stay out of the race if
6:40
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris gets in. I think that was just a
6:42
Speaker 2: wink-wink or a wink and a nod to donors. Don't
6:45
Speaker 2: fund her, fund me. I mean, that's just my opinion.
6:48
Speaker 2: But this guy brags about it. I mean, using taxpayer
6:51
Speaker 2: dollars to completely fund nonsense like this. So if these
6:54
Speaker 2: guys get into federal office, you better believe they're going
6:57
Speaker 2: to come after your taxpayer funding and they're going to
7:00
Speaker 2: do whatever they want with it, including supporting what I
7:04
Speaker 2: believe to be their voter base. This guy, This kind
7:07
Speaker 2: of surprised me. Low cost car insurance illegal immigrants are
7:11
Speaker 2: able to get in in California. I don't know why
7:14
Speaker 2: that surprised me, but it did.
7:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's low cost auto insurance that also has extremely
7:20
Speaker 1: low coverage minimums. Right. It's like actually well below the
7:23
Speaker 1: actual state mandated minimum. And if you're unfortunate to get
7:27
Speaker 1: into an accident with someone who has this low cost insurance,
7:30
Speaker 1: you might be in better shape. Having gotten into an
7:32
Speaker 1: accident with someone with no insurance and using your uninsured
7:35
Speaker 1: motorist coverage instead. It is really very not great coverage.
7:41
Speaker 1: But remember, California created a program to create new driver's
7:45
Speaker 1: licenses for illegal immigrants. So they have these California specific
7:50
Speaker 1: driver's licenses. I believe it was Assembly Bill 84 that
7:54
Speaker 1: allows them to get essentially a driver's license in California.
8:00
Speaker 2: I mean, this is insane. And we've seen what that's caused,
8:03
Speaker 2: at least on the road when it comes to truckers.
8:06
Speaker 2: illegal immigrants that are driving trucks across the country. And unfortunately,
8:12
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously these numbers, the accidents are few and
8:15
Speaker 2: far between, thank God. But nonetheless, a lot of illegals
8:20
Speaker 2: are able to get their truckers licenses in the state
8:23
Speaker 2: of California. They're also able to get rental assistance in college,
8:28
Speaker 2: rental assistance in college grants. No wonder rent in California
8:33
Speaker 2: is so high. I mean, the prices out there are
8:38
Speaker 2: just insane for what you get as far as a house,
8:43
Speaker 2: as far as an apartment or townhome or whatever. Would
8:47
Speaker 2: you contribute illegal immigration to the high cost of living
8:52
Speaker 2: in California or at least in part?
8:54
Speaker 1: I absolutely would. I think especially on the housing front
8:57
Speaker 1: outside of San Francisco, of course, right? San Francisco, the
9:00
Speaker 1: dumb beast, the AI software industry. Boom, of course, is
9:04
Speaker 1: going to be raising rents there. But for the rest
9:06
Speaker 1: of California, especially Los Angeles, where we're actually seeing rents
9:09
Speaker 1: go down since President Trump entered office, thanks to the
9:13
Speaker 1: secure border, most likely, along with other factors, right? Industries
9:16
Speaker 1: leaving Los Angeles. We are getting shaken down as taxpayers.
9:22
Speaker 1: So to afford that over $ 100, 000 in benefits, you'd have
9:23
Speaker 1: to make about $ 160, 000 as a taxpaying household to be
9:25
Speaker 1: able to afford that on your own. And that's why
9:32
Speaker 1: a lot of people are leaving, because when people can
9:35
Speaker 1: sign up for anything, remember in those undercover videos we did,
9:38
Speaker 1: we found that you can sign up for these free
9:41
Speaker 1: cell phones, free cell phone plans, new smartphone paid for
9:45
Speaker 1: by taxpayers. You can sign up with a Mexican consular ID.
9:51
Speaker 2: This is I mean, this is absolute insanity. I mean,
9:54
Speaker 2: you hear the Democrats talking about this affordability crisis, affordability
9:59
Speaker 2: crisis as if they didn't cause it for one. And honestly,
10:02
Speaker 2: I know the president is imperfect. His administration isn't perfect.
10:05
Speaker 2: But for God's sakes, these people are lying to you
10:08
Speaker 2: when it comes to affordability. I mean, the gas taxes
10:10
Speaker 2: that they have in the state of California, the fact
10:13
Speaker 2: that you have to pay or you're being forced, Californians
10:16
Speaker 2: are being forced to pay for the luxuries of illegal immigrants.
10:20
Speaker 2: I mean, it just serves as a magnet. What do
10:23
Speaker 2: you think the motivation is? And we'll keep you over
10:26
Speaker 2: for another segment, if you don't mind here, Kenneth. Kenneth
10:29
Speaker 2: Shrupp of City Journal, investigative reporter. This is obviously a magnet.
10:33
Speaker 2: Why are Democrats doing it? I know it's a bit rhetorical,
10:36
Speaker 2: but why is Gavin Newsom and Democrats doing this? Are
10:38
Speaker 2: they doing this?
10:39
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it comes down to money
10:40
Speaker 1: for programs. When people come here and have families, That
10:46
Speaker 1: means more federal money that's coming here. When businesses want
10:50
Speaker 1: to hire more employees without having to pay full taxes,
10:54
Speaker 1: that's also very helpful for them. I think it's actually
10:56
Speaker 1: a two front effort here. The government likes it and
10:59
Speaker 1: a lot of business owners in the state enjoy it.
11:02
Speaker 2: And I guess these politicians can keep getting reelected as
11:06
Speaker 2: long as they keep a permanent underclass. And that's exactly
11:10
Speaker 2: what they're doing in the state of California. More with
11:12
Speaker 2: Kenneth Shrupp momentarily.
11:18
Speaker 1: All right.
11:18
Speaker 2: Again, I'm speaking with my guest, Kenneth Shrupp of City Journal. Kenneth,
11:22
Speaker 2: if people want to find you online quickly, where do
11:25
Speaker 2: they go to find you and your work?
11:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can get most of my work at cityjournal.org, city-journal,
11:31
Speaker 1: or on Twitter at my handle, Kenneth Shrupp. That's S-C-H-R-U-P-P.
11:36
Speaker 2: Okay. And honestly, they are doing great work at City Journal.
11:40
Speaker 2: I mean, I love reading them. Christopher Rufo is amazing.
11:43
Speaker 2: You're amazing. Obviously, we've had Heather McDonald on the show
11:48
Speaker 2: several times before. She's absolutely amazing. So I love what
11:52
Speaker 2: you guys are doing there. And you're bringing a lot
11:54
Speaker 2: of things to light. You said something offline that kind
11:56
Speaker 2: of surprised me, Kenneth. I mean, you live in you
12:00
Speaker 2: live in California. You talked about people fleeing California because
12:06
Speaker 2: of the high prices, because of the high cost of living.
12:09
Speaker 2: But you said something that kind of surprised me. You said,
12:12
Speaker 2: I mean, at least in New York, I could I
12:14
Speaker 2: could kind of see people staying because there's more opportunity there.
12:18
Speaker 2: where there isn't in California. And I kind of equate
12:22
Speaker 2: California and New York, you know, one in the same.
12:25
Speaker 2: But that's not the case, I guess, based upon what
12:27
Speaker 2: you said. I know it's a little off course here,
12:29
Speaker 2: but that kind of surprised me.
12:31
Speaker 1: Right. I mean, the real economy in California is struggling.
12:34
Speaker 1: Net employment outside of government and government supported sectors is
12:38
Speaker 1: down since 2019. So we're not really seeing a real
12:42
Speaker 1: growing economy here. It's just government jobs or government funded jobs.
12:46
Speaker 1: In New York, at least there are opportunities. The whole
12:49
Speaker 1: world economy is really centered around New York. Los Angeles
12:53
Speaker 1: rents are down like 10% in the past year. It's
12:56
Speaker 1: one of the biggest declines, I think, in the country,
12:58
Speaker 1: aside from places like Austin, where the decline is due
13:01
Speaker 1: to building up more housing for people. But in LA,
13:04
Speaker 1: it's just the demand is gone because the industries are gone.
13:07
Speaker 1: Hollywood is leaving. People don't have the ability to really
13:11
Speaker 1: start new companies as easily here. And you have this
13:14
Speaker 1: K-shaped economy. where if you can do very well in
13:18
Speaker 1: a IPO kind of market, you might make out and
13:20
Speaker 1: do very well. But if you are middle class, if
13:24
Speaker 1: you're a family that's making $ 160, 000 a year, and you
13:28
Speaker 1: see another household right next to you of people who
13:31
Speaker 1: are reporting zero income, who are collecting over $ 100, 000 in
13:34
Speaker 1: cash and benefits, it's really easy to see, you know what,
13:37
Speaker 1: I'll take a small pay cut, maybe I'll move to Tennessee,
13:39
Speaker 1: I'll move to Florida, or move to Texas and try
13:43
Speaker 1: to start living the life I didn't want to live.
13:46
Speaker 2: Okay. Explain this to me. What is CAFI?
13:50
Speaker 1: Yes. So there's this program it's called cash assistance program
13:54
Speaker 1: for immigrants. It's a replacement for SSI or disability for
13:57
Speaker 1: people who are not qualified for it due to their
14:00
Speaker 1: immigration status. And it's up to about $ 14, 000 a year
14:04
Speaker 1: that you get as the standard payment. It's a cash benefit.
14:09
Speaker 2: You, you, And you can't get this if you're a citizen.
14:13
Speaker 1: Is that correct? Correct. So when we went to a
14:18
Speaker 1: welfare office and asked about this program, we were told
14:21
Speaker 1: the only thing is just don't be a citizen when
14:23
Speaker 1: you sign up. It's not available to the citizens. And
14:27
Speaker 1: you can get this program. We were told legal or not.
14:32
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter.
14:32
Speaker 2: Go ahead. I'm sorry.
14:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are a few, of course, conditions that do apply,
14:39
Speaker 1: but it is available to non-citizens.
14:43
Speaker 2: Also, illegal immigrants can get Section 8 rental subsidies there,
14:49
Speaker 2: college grants, and tax credits. I don't understand how you
14:55
Speaker 2: get tax credits when you're getting strictly welfare assistance. That
15:00
Speaker 2: doesn't make sense to me.
15:02
Speaker 1: Well, a refundable tax credit doesn't really matter if you
15:04
Speaker 1: have taxes or not. As long as you file some paperwork,
15:07
Speaker 1: you can get it and you can report whatever amount
15:09
Speaker 1: of income you would like if you're getting paid cash
15:12
Speaker 1: under the table. There's an optimal amount of income that
15:16
Speaker 1: you can report that will minimize your tax burden and
15:18
Speaker 1: maximize the available tax credits.
15:23
Speaker 2: I'm literally my jaw drops every time. Every time you
15:26
Speaker 2: meant I mean, some of it. I knew California was bad.
15:29
Speaker 2: We we obviously as conservatives, we all use California as
15:32
Speaker 2: an example. Don't become California. Don't become like California. It's
15:36
Speaker 2: kind of a cudgel. It's a fun place to go.
15:38
Speaker 2: But this actually makes me extremely frustrated because you see
15:42
Speaker 2: what they're getting away with, what they're trying to do.
15:45
Speaker 2: And nothing is being done about it. One of the
15:46
Speaker 2: things that you guys write about or you say here,
15:50
Speaker 2: federal law generally prohibits states from using federal dollars to
15:53
Speaker 2: serve illegal aliens to dodge those restrictions. California states. created
15:57
Speaker 2: parallel state and locally funded programs that allowed the state
16:02
Speaker 2: to extend benefits to illegal immigrants. Kenneth Shrupp, how is
16:05
Speaker 2: that even possible legally if they're taking federal taxpayer dollars
16:12
Speaker 2: and funneling that money into state programs? I don't even
16:15
Speaker 2: understand how that is legal, how that can happen, how
16:19
Speaker 2: people can't be prosecuted for that.
16:21
Speaker 1: Well, money is fungible, right? Once it enters the state,
16:24
Speaker 1: the state can decide how it wants to really spend
16:27
Speaker 1: the other money in its bucket that it's now not
16:29
Speaker 1: having to spend, right? So if California is getting a
16:33
Speaker 1: lot of federal funding for Medicaid, Section 8, food stamps,
16:37
Speaker 1: then it can decide it can want to free up
16:40
Speaker 1: some of its own internal funding to use on these
16:42
Speaker 1: programs that we've seen time and time again. One thing
16:44
Speaker 1: I do want to make sure that's clear here, though,
16:46
Speaker 1: is a lot of these benefits, they're going to be
16:48
Speaker 1: claimed on behalf of their U.S. born children. That's really
16:52
Speaker 1: the key here, right? The Section 8 benefit, you can't
16:55
Speaker 1: Get that cash amount if you're here illegally. You have
16:58
Speaker 1: to claim it on behalf of your U.S.-born children. There's
17:02
Speaker 1: CalWORKs or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs for
17:05
Speaker 1: families with children. That cash benefit is claimed on behalf
17:09
Speaker 1: of the U.S.-born children. So if you can get into
17:12
Speaker 1: this country, you're able to, of course, qualify for some benefits.
17:16
Speaker 1: But a lot of these rely on people having children
17:20
Speaker 1: in the United States.
17:21
Speaker 2: Are there other areas where they're able to use wraparound methods,
17:27
Speaker 2: take the federal funding, use it for whatever state activities
17:30
Speaker 2: that they want that you could bring to our attention?
17:33
Speaker 1: I mean, quite honestly, a lot of the health care
17:37
Speaker 1: costs and especially emergency rooms, that's something that is reimbursed
17:40
Speaker 1: by the federal government. So the federal government does provide
17:43
Speaker 1: reimbursement for emergency room care and pregnancy related care for everyone,
17:48
Speaker 1: regardless of immigration status. And We see that in our
17:51
Speaker 1: emergency rooms in California, especially Los Angeles, where I'm from,
17:55
Speaker 1: they are quite busy. And you have large populations of
17:59
Speaker 1: people using the emergency rooms who are here illegally or
18:03
Speaker 1: who are homeless. And the federal policy of reimbursement for
18:06
Speaker 1: that is driving a lot of this usage.
18:10
Speaker 2: Is there a fix to this in your mind? I mean,
18:13
Speaker 2: can the federal government stipulate this money can only be
18:17
Speaker 2: used for that? I know you said California could free
18:19
Speaker 2: up their money to do with it what they will
18:23
Speaker 2: if they're getting this influx of federal money. But I
18:27
Speaker 2: suspect the federal government can put stipulations. This is only
18:31
Speaker 2: to be used for this. And then if California wants
18:33
Speaker 2: to go bankrupt spending their money, their taxpayer money in
18:36
Speaker 2: whichever way they want, then so be it.
18:39
Speaker 1: Right. So that's already essentially the case. And the federal
18:41
Speaker 1: executive agencies, including CMS under Dr. Oz, they're clawing back
18:47
Speaker 1: some money that was used illegally for illegal immigrants. Secretary
18:51
Speaker 1: Turner at the Housing and Urban Development Agency, he is
18:56
Speaker 1: trying to create a rule where you can only get
18:58
Speaker 1: Section 8 if all of the people in the household
19:00
Speaker 1: qualify so that it's not going to the so-called mixed
19:03
Speaker 1: status households where you have people who are not qualified.
19:07
Speaker 1: And that usually means people who are not here legally
19:09
Speaker 1: whose identity can be verified, etc.
19:12
Speaker 2: What amazes me, too, is the children of illegal immigrants
19:15
Speaker 2: are able to get college grants. So If you're a
19:18
Speaker 2: hardworking citizen in California, I mean, you're a middle class worker,
19:22
Speaker 2: you're a blue collar worker. You're not able to afford
19:25
Speaker 2: that for your children or maybe they go into some
19:28
Speaker 2: type of skills trade because California just isn't really an
19:32
Speaker 2: option for them. But those people get to foot the
19:35
Speaker 2: bill for illegal immigrants, the children of illegal immigrants.
19:40
Speaker 1: Well, there is special tuition for people who. came here
19:44
Speaker 1: as illegal immigrants, as children, right? You get in-state tuition
19:48
Speaker 1: for illegal immigrants. It's something that's being litigated in the
19:51
Speaker 1: courts now. But what I wanted to more speak to
19:53
Speaker 1: broadly is Congress can actually act in the case where
19:56
Speaker 1: executive agencies, they try to create rules, the court strikes
19:59
Speaker 1: them down. Congress has the power of the purse. They
20:02
Speaker 1: can make sure that maybe federal reimbursements are lower for
20:06
Speaker 1: states that offer certain kinds of programs. And that's something
20:09
Speaker 1: we already saw in one big, beautiful bill. It reduced
20:11
Speaker 1: part of the Medicare reimbursement rates for states that enroll
20:15
Speaker 1: illegal immigrants in their program. And that's actually why Gavin Newsom,
20:19
Speaker 1: or one of the reasons at least, that he limited
20:22
Speaker 1: new enrollment in Medi-Cal for illegal immigrants, which does have
20:26
Speaker 1: about 1.7 million illegal immigrants enrolled in it. That's a
20:29
Speaker 1: lot of people's healthcare that we're paying for. Wow.
20:32
Speaker 2: One point seven million. And thank God for the one big,
20:35
Speaker 2: beautiful bill that at least limited that. I guess this
20:39
Speaker 2: is a great argument to to make sure that you vote.
20:42
Speaker 2: I mean, I know this would be historic to keep
20:44
Speaker 2: Republicans in the House and Senate. I know they haven't
20:46
Speaker 2: been the greatest. I think we can all complain about them,
20:50
Speaker 2: but they're certainly not doing this.
20:54
Speaker 1: Sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two evils.
20:59
Speaker 2: I mean, it certainly feels that way. I mean, it
21:04
Speaker 2: absolutely stinks. But I do feel like, listen, Republicans aren't
21:08
Speaker 2: going to, some may want to, but aren't going to
21:11
Speaker 2: fund a bunch of people. And listen, I understand people
21:14
Speaker 2: want to come to the United States of America. It's
21:16
Speaker 2: the best country in the world. I think we have
21:19
Speaker 2: a duty as Americans to make sure that this nation
21:22
Speaker 2: remains free and that people come to this country or
21:25
Speaker 2: when they come, they I shouldn't say that when they come,
21:29
Speaker 2: they come to this country legally because what's happening in
21:32
Speaker 2: California cannot continue to happen. Gavin Newsom basically has doubled
21:39
Speaker 2: down on this stuff. He's not walking. He's not walking
21:42
Speaker 2: away from it. As we said earlier, he's bragged about
21:45
Speaker 2: it in 2022. You guys write Newsom signed a bill
21:48
Speaker 2: into law. that extended taxpayer-funded food benefits to illegal low-income residents.
21:55
Speaker 2: And this beginning next October, qualified Californians 55 and older
21:59
Speaker 2: will become eligible for that program regardless of their immigration status.
22:04
Speaker 2: California's legislative analysts estimate that it could cost up to
22:08
Speaker 2: an additional $ 400 million a year. So these costs aren't
22:13
Speaker 2: necessarily going to come down Unless, as you mentioned, Congress
22:17
Speaker 2: does something about it. But speak to this particular program.
22:19
Speaker 2: California is 55 and older will become eligible for that
22:23
Speaker 2: particular program.
22:25
Speaker 1: Right. So up until now, food stamps, you'd have to
22:27
Speaker 1: claim it on behalf of your U.S. born children. If
22:30
Speaker 1: you're here illegally, you're not able to directly get that
22:32
Speaker 1: benefit on your own. We're now going to be expanding
22:34
Speaker 1: it to people who are 55. And older and under
22:37
Speaker 1: current rules, if I'm correct, it means also they won't
22:39
Speaker 1: be subject to the same work requirements that people in
22:42
Speaker 1: the country legally or people who are U.S. citizens will
22:45
Speaker 1: be subject to. And that begs the question, like, why
22:48
Speaker 1: are we raising the cost of these programs when we
22:52
Speaker 1: clearly don't have the money for it? And that's because
22:55
Speaker 1: in isolation, voters in California, they support each of these
22:58
Speaker 1: individual policies. Medicare for all people generally seem to support that.
23:02
Speaker 1: They think that's a great idea. But when you add
23:04
Speaker 1: up the cost together, and that was really the point
23:06
Speaker 1: of this piece, when you add up the cost of
23:08
Speaker 1: all of this, you are looking at replacing a middle
23:11
Speaker 1: class household income with the benefits that you can receive.
23:14
Speaker 1: And it's not sustainable.
23:16
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, as an American citizen, if you're living
23:20
Speaker 2: in the state of California, it would be difficult. It
23:24
Speaker 2: wouldn't be for me, but I'd imagine for some. It's like,
23:27
Speaker 2: why bother? Why bother working if I can if I
23:30
Speaker 2: can go out and obtain jobs? benefits from the state
23:34
Speaker 2: that are going to allow me to be a slacker,
23:36
Speaker 2: why don't I just do that? Unless the benefits benefit
23:41
Speaker 2: illegal immigrants more than American citizens.
23:45
Speaker 1: It's hard to justify staying in California for a lot
23:48
Speaker 1: of people, and that's why so many Americans are on
23:50
Speaker 1: the way out.
23:51
Speaker 2: All right, real quickly here, 30 seconds or so, California Lifeline,
23:55
Speaker 2: that's the smartphone program, I guess. Speak to us about that.
24:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the smartphone program, you can sign up You
24:03
Speaker 1: get free unlimited calls, at least some of these companies here,
24:07
Speaker 1: they'll give you free unlimited calls to much of the
24:09
Speaker 1: rest of the world. And you don't have to pay
24:12
Speaker 1: for it. That's all paid for by California taxpayers. You
24:14
Speaker 1: can sign up for it with a Mexican consulate ID.
24:17
Speaker 1: It's like the Obama phone era that we remember, but
24:20
Speaker 1: now it's expanded to everyone in California. All right.
24:23
Speaker 2: So this is the model for the rest of the
24:25
Speaker 2: United States of America. All you have to do is
24:27
Speaker 2: look at California. Kenneth Stroup of City Journal, thank you
24:30
Speaker 2: so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
24:32
Speaker 1: Thank you.