Representative Greg Steube (R-FL) has introduced legislation prohibiting registered sex offenders from receiving Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) benefits.
The Criminals' Loss of Eligibility and Assistance Networks Act, or CLEAN Act, amends the 1986 Internal Revenue Code and Social Security Act to explicitly deny registered sex offenders from receiving refundable tax credit healthcare coverage and render them ineligible for federally funded Medicaid benefits.
In a statement, Rep. Steube did not mince words, saying, "Sex offenders have no business tapping into programs intended for lower-income and disadvantaged Americans." "Taxpayers have the right to know their hard-earned money is not being used to cover the medical expenses of serial abusers and criminals," he continued, adding, "Rapists and abusers have no business receiving federal benefits. My bill will protect Medicaid and ACA assistance for law-abiding Americans by barring sex offenders from accessing these programs."
The Florida congressman is not the first to ensure registered sex offenders fully feel the effects of being on the registry, as Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) previously introduced the No Surrogacy for Sex Offenders Act in November.
Rep. Luna's bill prohibits registered offenders from using interstate or foreign commerce to enter into a surrogacy arrangement, which the bill intentionally defines broadly enough to include arrangements intended to obtain parental rights.
Her legislation responded to a viral incident in which a Pennsylvania man named Brandon Keith Riley-Mitchell, a convicted sex offender for crimes against children, went viral after he and his husband posted a video celebrating their son's first birthday, who was born via a surrogate.
"This is simple: convicted sex offenders should never be allowed to exploit surrogacy to gain access to children. Period," Rep. Luna said at the time. "If someone is too dangerous to adopt, they are too dangerous to use reproductive loopholes to put a newborn in harm's way. This legislation is about one thing: protecting vulnerable children from predators."
