purchases. Health care Tillis opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and has repeatedly voted to repeal it. In the state House of Representatives, he led the Republican effort to block the expansion of Medicaid in North Carolina. As the legislation prevents a governor from expanding the program, North Carolina remains one of only 12 states not to have done so as of September 2020. Tillis has said that health care is "not a government responsibility" and that he will "do everything in his power to overturn Obamacare." In 2018, amid attempts to repeal the ACA, Tillis introduced legislation to compensate for the ACA's requirement that insurers cover people with preexisting conditions. The bill was criticized for containing loopholes that exempted insurers from covering issues related to preexisting conditions and for failing to match the ACA's protections against discrimination. Tillis subsequently backtracked and said he could make improvements to the bill, and that it was merely intended to start a discussion. Immigration In 2017, amid moves by Trump to cancel DACA, Tillis proposed legislation to allow some undocumented youth brought to the U.S. as children to apply for renewable five-year residency, and eventually citizenship, as a more conservative alternative to the bipartisan DREAM Act. High school graduates under 31 would be eligible on conditions including regular employment, military service, or engagement in higher education. Unlike the DREAM Act, it would be possible to apply for citizenship only after 15 years, and the bill would prevent those who had become citizens from petitioning to grant residency to immediate family members, as well as require temporary visa recipients to waive their right to a hearing in case of a term violation. In February 2019, Tillis wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post opposing Trump's national emergency declaration concerning the southern border, which diverted funding from the Department of Defense to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico. He wrote, "I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress." Tillis faced pressure from Trump and conservatives to support the emergency declaration, and some conservatives proposed a primary challenge against Tillis in 2020. A week after making a statement reiterating his opposition, Tillis reversed his position and voted for Trump's declaration. Internet, technology and copyright Tillis opposes net neutrality. In 2017, he co-sponsored the Restoring Internet Freedom Act, a bill to nullify the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order.