Sen. Sessions Asks CBO to Estimate Long-Term Costs of Amnesty

The Gang of Eight’s immigration reform bill prohibits illegal aliens that receive amnesty from accesing public benefits until they receive green cards, but that’s just an accounting trick. Every bill in Congress is scored by the Congressional Budget Office to determine its impact on the federal budget, but the CBO only examines the first 10 years, which is why the Gang has delayed green cards for most illegal aliens for 10 years. But the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee is urging the CBO to score the bill beyond the 10 years.Yesterday, Sen. Jeff Sessions  sent a letter to CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf asking his agency to provide a long-term estimate of the costs associated with the Gang of Eight’s legislation.”The legislation would enable millions of illegal immigrants to access federal and state welfare and entitlement programs, with the most significant costs occurring outside the 10-year budget window when they would be eligible for green cards and ultimately citizenship,” Sen. Sessions wrote. “No lawmaker should vote on this legislation until we have a complete and thorough estimation of the long-term cost.” The Heritage Foundation’s President Jim DeMint wrote an op-ed for USA Today that was published yesterday calling for the need for Congress to understand the costs of the bill. DeMint discussed the Foundation’s study written by Robert Rector in 2006 that found that the Bush-Kennedy-McCain amnesty would cost taxpayers $2.5 trillion over the lifetimes of the illegal aliens that receive amnesty.”Five years ago, Rector found that amnesty would likely cost taxpayers some $2.5 trillion,” DeMint wrote. “Over the last six months he has been putting the finishing touches on an updated study that calculates an even higher price tag.”Some may say we can solve this fiscal problem by granting amnesty without any government benefits. We all know that will never happen. As soon as any of the nearly 11 million unauthorized immigrants are given legal status, the political fight will turn to speeding their transition to citizenship and promises of a full array of federal benefits.”For more informatoin, see USA Today.