In 2021, Governor Newsom indicated he would not expand Medi-Cal for undocumented senior immigrants because it would worsen the budget in upcoming projected deficit years. Fast forward to 2024 and Newsom has changed his tune, committing the state to fund healthcare for not only seniors but also all undocumented immigrants.
In a social media video posted last week, Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) exposes Governor Newsom’s flip-flop. The video, which has already garnered almost 600,000 views, highlights the governor expressing his concerns with funding healthcare for undocumented immigrants, and then moving forward with the plan anyways, while the state faces a massive $73 billion budget deficit. Click here to download the video.
“Classic Gavin ‘Gaslight’ Newsom, breaking his promise to Californians once again,” said Leader Jones. “Maybe we can get ‘2021 Newsom’ and ‘2024 Newsom’ in the same room to break down the budget. As ‘2021 Newsom’ might say, this current plan is only ‘exacerbating some of the structural challenges’ of the deficit California faces. It’s almost like this governor has budget amnesia and forgot what he told Californians, who will be on the hook for this expansion. Then again, maybe it’s just the ‘Gavinomics.’”
Click here to watch this video.
In 2021, when asked by a reporter about the expansion of Medi-Cal to undocumented seniors, Newsom said: “… while we are enjoying the fruits of a lot of one-time energy and surplus … it’s not permanent. And we have to be mindful of overcommitting three plus billion dollars a year … and exacerbating some of the structural challenges that we still have to face going forward. So, we need to make sure that we’re mindful, put our house in order, strong fiscal foundation.” Click here to watch the full video of Newsom’s response.
Earlier this year, Leader Jones urged the governor to freeze the expansion and save taxpayers over $4 billion amidst the deficit. In December, Jones visited the California-Mexico border on a bipartisan tour to learn more about the border crisis on the ground. Read more about the tour here.