Thread: Senate bill would add 20 million

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/n ... cbo02.html


Friday, June 2, 2006 - 12:00 AM






Senate bill would add 20 million legal immigrants, report says

By The Washington Post


WASHINGTON — The nation's population of legal immigrants would increase by nearly 20.million in the next decade if the recently passed Senate immigration bill becomes law, according to a Congressional Budget Office report. Taxpayers would spend more than $50 billion to operate a new guest-worker program and pay for extra welfare, Social Security and public health-care costs, the report said.

But the cost of absorbing the newcomers would be offset by a boost of $66 billion in federal revenue from income taxes and payroll taxes generated by the temporary guest-worker program, along with fees immigrants would be required to pay to participate, the report said.

By 2016, about 8 million immigrants would enter the United States as temporary guest workers. An additional 11 million to 12 million immigrants who now live in the country illegally would become permanent legal residents under the bill's provisions.

The Senate Finance Committee commissioned the report, the first definitive look at the impact of the Senate bill. It was submitted May 16, nine days before the measure was passed.

Critics said the report does not take into account the 950,000 newcomers who enter the country legally under current immigration law, bringing the 10-year total of new immigrants to about 30 million. Some say that number will double by 2026.

The report also does not consider the possibility of future mass illegal border crossings that might occur, critics said.

Will Adams, a spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who opposes granting residency to illegal immigrants, called legal immigration "the soft underbelly of the Senate bill." It is overlooked in the debate, he said, "but when it's exposed, the public is outraged."

The immigration report was publicized as President Bush told the nation's most prominent business group Thursday that "unscrupulous" employers have contributed to the nation's illegal-immigration crisis by knowingly hiring illegal workers. Bush called for steep new penalties.

He visited the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to emphasize his focus on enforcement and combat the conservative complaint that his immigration proposals add up to amnesty for millions of foreigners violating U.S. immigration law.

"Businesses that knowingly employ illegal workers undermine this law and undermine the spirit of America. And we're not going to tolerate it in this country," the president said.

The speech came hours before his administration reached agreement with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to send the California National Guard to the Mexican border. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, agreed to contribute 1,000 troops if the federal government picks up the full cost.

Bush also used the speech to press the divided Congress to compromise on immigration legislation. The two chambers have passed sharply different versions of the legislation, and Bush hoped to build momentum for negotiators to resolve difficult disputes.

"It's a difficult task," he said. "Yet the difficulty of this task is no excuse for avoiding it."

jimpasz

"Businesses that knowingly employ illegal workers undermine this law and undermine the spirit of America. And we're not going to tolerate it in this country," the president said.

AND we all believe him, right?

But the cost of absorbing the newcomers would be offset by a boost of $66 billion in federal revenue from income taxes and payroll taxes generated by the temporary guest-worker program, along with fees immigrants would be required to pay to participate, the report said.

So how come others such as Session's report say differently?

the population would grow by over 100 MILLION...{heritage center}

Don't they just love to muddy the water with misinformation