Congresswoman Maxine Waters told a conservative reporter to “quit it” after being pressed on whether Democrats are pushing a government shutdown to demand healthcare for “illegal aliens.”
Pro-MAGA LindellTV reporter Alison Steinberg has been sharing clips of her heated Sept. 30 exchange with Rep. Maxine Waters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Steinberg pressed Waters on whether Democrats would risk a government shutdown to prioritize healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
Picking up on the partisan framing, Waters pushed back and clarified that Democrats’ stance is about ensuring healthcare for “everybody.”
“Excuse me. Stop it right there,” she told the reporters. “We’re not prioritizing. What we’re saying simply is that we want to keep the government open and we want to work with the Republicans and have a bipartisan agreement to keep this government open, and healthcare is at the top of our agenda.”
When Steinberg pressed Waters again, asking her, “But are Democrats demanding healthcare for illegal aliens?” Waters replied, “Democrats are demanding healthcare for everybody. We want to save lives. We want to make sure that healthcare is available to those who would die [without] having the help of their government.”
The latest government shutdown, the first since Trump’s initial term, stems from a budget standoff between Republicans and Democrats over healthcare funding. Democrats are pushing to extend expiring tax credits that lower insurance costs for millions of Americans, reverse Trump-era Medicaid cuts affecting elderly, disabled, and low-income people, and prevent spending reductions to federal health agencies.
Trump and other Republicans accuse Democrats of attempting to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to undocumented immigrants. In reality, federal law bars them from eligibility, with exceptions for roughly 1.4 million people considered “lawfully present” in the U.S.—including DACA recipients who arrived as children, individuals with Temporary Protected Status, and refugees or asylum seekers still in the legal process. Republicans are now pushing to block this group from accessing Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The GOP currently holds control of both chambers of Congress, but in the Senate, they lack the 60 votes required to pass the spending bill, giving Democrats leverage in negotiations and leading to the shutdown. Steinberg’s questioning appeared aimed at framing Democrats as pushing the shutdown to secure healthcare for migrants.
“So you’re good with the government shutdown even if it means giving healthcare to people who aren’t Americans?” Steinberg asked again.
“That’s what you’re pushing on,” Waters shot back. “What you’re trying to do is you’re standing here and you’re trying to make me say that somehow we are going to put non-citizens over Americans. Quit it! Stop it! This is the kind of journalism we don’t need.”
The California congresswoman went on to accuse Steinberg of being “divisive” and creating “controversy.”
“You’re not going to get it from me!” Waters said. “We want to save healthcare for all people.”
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