One of the most consistent claimsRepublicans have made during this government shutdown is that Democrats are demanding the federal government pay for health care for people in the country illegally as a condition for reopening the government.

President Donald Trump has repeated the claim. So, too, has Vice President JD Vance. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently said, “Democrats continue to recklessly hold the American people hostage over their demands to give illegal aliens free health care.”

The reality is far more complicated.

Democrats are voting against funding the government because they want an extension of a health care premium tax credit, designed to make coverage under the Affordable Care Act more affordable, includedin any legislation to reopen the government

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