WASHINGTON — Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) introduced legislation Wednesday reversing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s health and social services eligibility restrictions targeting lawfully present immigrants. The Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration (LIFT the BAR) Act, aligns with a March 2026 survey finding that four fifths (83%) of Americans support health and social services for lawfully present immigrants.
People who are undocumented are already ineligible for Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, the Child Tax Credit, and other federal basic needs programs. OBBBA restrictions to eligibility for those programs target U.S. citizens – overwhelmingly children – in immigrant families, and lawfully present immigrants. Lawfully present immigrants whose status is based on being a domestic violence survivor, a refugee, a human trafficking survivor or who hold other “humanitarian” statuses are specifically targeted. Those restrictions have already begun to take effect and will ultimately affect millions in immigrant families.
In addition to reversing the OBBBA restrictions, the bill also reverses the “five-year bar.” This 1996 policy denies basic needs programs to millions in the families of people with “green cards” and other immigrants who are lawfully present for the first five years of their time in the United States. The LIFT the BAR Act has 101 original cosponsors in the United States House of Representatives.
In response to the bill’s introduction, the PIF coalition released the following statement from its director of policy and advocacy, Maddie Geschu:
“Americans overwhelmingly want lawfully present immigrants to be able to get the care and help they need. The LIFT the BAR Act delivers what the American people want and reverses a fundamental injustice in health and social services policy. We thank Rep. Jayapal for her leadership in advancing this important legislation. Last year’s partisan budget bill is already doing damage to families and communities across the country. We urge Congress to act quickly to reverse these dangerous restrictions and restore access to basic needs programs.”
Original cosponsors:
- Adams
- Amo
- Ansari
- Balint
- Barragán
- Bell
- Beyer
- Bonamici
- Carbajal
- Carson
- Casar
- Casten
- Castro
- Chu
- Clarke
- Cohen
- Correa
- Crockett
- Crow
- Davis (IL)
- Dean
- DeGette
- DelBene
- Deluzio
- DeSaulnier
- Dexter
- Doggett
- Escobar
- Espaillat
- Foushee
- Frankel
- Frost
- Garcia (CA)
- García (IL)
- Garcia (TX)
- Goldman
- Gomez
- Grijalva
- Hayes
- Huffman
- Ivey
- Jackson
- Jacobs
- Jayapal
- Johnson (GA)
- Kamlager-Dove
- Kelly
- Khanna
- Krishnamoorthi
- Lee (PA)
- Leger Fernandez
- Lieu
- Lofgren
- Matsui
- McClellan
- McGovern
- Meeks
- Mejia
- Menefee
- Menendez
- Meng
- Moore
- Moulton
- Mullin
- Nadler
- Norton
- Omar
- Panetta
- Pingree
- Pocan
- Pressley
- Quigley
- Ramirez
- Raskin
- Ross
- Salinas
- Sánchez
- Scanlon
- Schakowsky
- Sewell
- Sherman
- Simon
- Smith
- Stansbury
- Takano
- Thanedar
- Titus
- Tlaib
- Tokuda
- Tonko
- Torres (CA)
- Torres (NY)
- Trahan
- Vargas
- Veasey
- Velázquez
- Walkinshaw
- Wasserman Schultz
- Watson Coleman
- Williams
- Wilson
