Thread: The Immigration Amnesty Bill - Would Bankrupt America

Gene Nelson, Ph.D.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013, 11:23 PM

Hello, List Members: Here is a short message that I hope will motivate some of you to call the 15 Republican U.S. Senators that supported the almost 1,200 page Schumer-Corker-Hoeven substitute amendment for S. 744 that was released on Friday, 22 June 2013 for a vote on Monday, 24 June 2013. (And the four Republicans that did not vote.) All 19 of their names are bolded. This difficult - to - read legislation was crafted by special interests. It is riddled with loopholes and vague language. I seriously doubt that any of the 15 Republican Senators that voted for the bill on the 24th actually understands all of what they approved (by agreeing to a cloture vote.) Ditto for the 50 Democrats (100%) and 2 "Independents" (100%.) I believe that they voted for it because there was some form of taxpayer-supported "pork" in the bill that they felt would increase their probability of re-election.

Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Baldwin (D-WI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chiesa (R-NJ)
Collins (R-ME)
Coons (D-DE)
Corker (R-TN)
Cowan (D-MA)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Flake (R-AZ)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Heller (R-NV)
Hirono (D-HI)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Kirk (R-IL)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)

Note that 6 Senators that did not vote.

Brown (D-OH)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Enzi (R-WY)
Isakson (R-GA)
Lee (R-UT)
Udall (D-CO)


These 73 U.S. Senators need to promptly hear from you via (202) 224 - 3121 (The Capitol Operator) about how they have abdicated their responsibility to almost all Americans - and supported special interests instead. Cloture on S. 744 should receive a NO vote from these U.S. Senators with votes scheduled this week on Wednesday and Thursday.

About a decade ago, the costs of illegal aliens were estimated to be $338.3 Billion annually. Robert Rector's research and June 1, 2011 Congressional testimony on pages 46 - 59 http://oversight.house.gov/wp-conten...Transcript.pdf establishes that these statistics are dwarfed by the present direct benefit costs ( about $1,000 Billion, or $ 1 Trillion per year) of illegal immigration. If S. 744 becomes law, I believe that the economic damages will become far larger - more than $6.3 Trillion, based on a May, 2013 Heritage Foundation report. http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2013/pdf/sr133.pdf

Here is the beginning of the executive summary from this most recent report.

"Unlawful immigration and amnesty for current unlawful immigrants can pose large fiscal costs for U.S. taxpayers. Government provides four types of benefits and services that are relevant to this issue:

• Direct benefits. These include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.
• Means-tested welfare benefits. There are over 80 of these programs which, at a cost of nearly $900 billion per year, provide cash, food, housing, medical, and other services to roughly 100 million low-income Americans. Major programs include Medicaid, food stamps, the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, public housing, Supplemental Security Income, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
• Public education. At a cost of $12,300 per pupil per year, these services are largely free or heavily subsidized for low-income parents.
• Population-based services. Police, fire, highways, parks, and similar services, as the National Academy of Sciences determined in its study of the fiscal costs of immigration, generally have to expand as new immigrants enter a community; someone has to bear the cost of that expansion........ "

As I have noted in my writings on several occasions, illegal immigration occurs in the U.S. because economic elites derive financial benefits and/or political benefits. The benefits of illegal immigration are mostly privatized, while the costs are socialized.

Note that 7 Senators did not vote at all on Corker’s sell-out amendment to S. 744. These are:

Brown (D-OH)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Enzi (R-WY)
Isakson (R-GA)
Lee (R-UT)
Udall (D-CO)

Your phone calls might get them to do their duty to their constituents and their country by voting against S. 744 when it comes up for its final test.

At the least, a close vote would let the House know that the heat has been turned up. The public is against Amnesty and increases in mass immigration.