On  Saturday (updated Sunday), Just the News posted an article about where the  government’s money for healthcare has been spent.

The article reports:

More evidence has emerged showing that — despite the claims of Democrats — illegal immigrants have benefited from millions of federal tax dollars. The government watchdog group Open the Books released a new analysis that found almost $197 million in federal healthcare-related grants have benefited illegal immigrants since fiscal year 2021.

That is NOT pocket change and needs to be ended.

The article continues:

According to the report, the grants include both direct services and academic research aimed at expanding access to healthcare for immigrant populations. Open the Books’ researchers said they searched federal databases for grant descriptions that explicitly mentioned terms such as “undocumented” or “unauthorized,” suggesting that the actual total amount of taxpayer funding could be higher.

The article concludes:

Open the Books said the $197 million total does not include “indirect spending on illegal immigrants through Medicaid, which was estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to be around $27 billion from FY 2017-2023, nor does it account for education spending that benefits illegal immigrants and their children, which amounts to an estimated $70 billion annually.”

Open the Books identified about $13 million in new awards since February 2025 after the start of Trump’s second term. Under Trump, border encounters have dropped significantly amid increased federal enforcement. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “26,197 total encounters nationwide” occurred under Trump — a 93% below the peak of the Biden administration’s 370,883. 

The spending on illegal immigrants through Medicaid is what the Democrats want to continue. The fact that the Republicans will not agree to that is one of many reasons the government remains shut down.