Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Insurance Oversight Director Gary Cohen told members of Congress last Thursday at a House Ways and Means Committee that anyone "lawfully present" inside the United States would qualify for Obamacare subsidies even if they are not citizens.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) sent a memo this morning to all Congressional Republicans calling the "GOP elite" pro-amnesty and pro-open border immigration view "nonsense."
The same set of GOP strategists, lobbyists, and donors who have always favored a proposal like the Gang of Eight immigration bill argue that the great lesson of the 2012 election is that the GOP needs to push for immediate amnesty and a drastic surge in low-skill immigration.This is nonsense.
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) issued a press release yesterday urging Republican House leadership to forgo plans to provide amnesty for the 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. The organization instead, calls for the House to focus on enforcing the nation's laws.
"The NAFBPO urges the American public to directly request Congressmen John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan to abandon their dreams of amnesty, by whatever name, and get on a realistic track to ensure national security and public safety. That track leads to effective interior enforcement in every jurisdiction in all fifty states. Only then can actual border security and control become possible," the group wrote in the release.
A recent Rasmussen poll finds that support for the Senate immigration bill has dropped. Only 50% of likely voters now favor a plan to give legal status to illegal aliens, even if the border is secured to prevent future immigration. This figure is down from 60% less than three weeks ago. The figure drops to 39% when voters were asked if they support a plan that only cuts the flow of illegal immigration by 50%.
These results come after the Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that the Senate immigration bill would only stop the flow by 50%.
CNBC's senior editor, John Carney, analyzed the Congressional Budget Office's immigration bill report and found that wages across all skill levels would decline for the first ten years after comprehensive immigration reform passed.
Along with a nationwide wage decline, Carney says that according to the CBO report, unemployment would initially rise after a CIR would pass.
A new National Journal poll found that 49 percent of GOP voters say they will be less likely to support their incumbent lawmaker if he or she votes for a path to citizenship for illegal aliens. Only 15 percent of Republicans would support the incumbent who backs a path to citizenship.
These poll results come after 15 Republican Senators voted to pass the Schumer-Corker-Hoeven amendment yesterday. The passage of this amendment will make it easier for the Gang of 8 amnesty bill, S. 744 to likely pass the Senate.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said today that an immigration bill is unlikely to come to the House floor if it does not have the support of a majority of the House Republican caucus, according to The Washington Times.
This move by Speaker Boehner will make it much more difficult for the Senate Gang of Eight's amnesty bill to become law.
A new CNN/ORC International survey found that 62% of Americans say border security should be the main focus of U.S. immigration policy, while only 36% say a path to citizenship for illegal aliens should be the top priority.
According to the poll, more than six in ten Americans say border security is a bigger priority than a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) has written a letter to members of the U.S. Senate asking them to oppose the immigration bill, S. 744. Specifically, IFPTE opposes the Schumer/Hatch amendment that passed during the Senate Judiciary Committe mark-ups earlier this month. The Schumber/Hatch amendment would increase the annual numbers of H-1B Visas.
Half of all grads from four-year colleges are working in jobs that don't require a four-year degree, according to a McKinsey study cited by Forbes. The McKinsey report is backed by a similar study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that found 48% of U.S. college grads are underemployed.