Posted on 05/30/2007 12:36:18 PM PDT by Spiff
The Kennedy-Kyl (K-K) Amnesty bill should be titled An Act to Destroy the Republican Party because it pits President Bush against the majority of the Party that elected him. When Senator Ted Kennedy appeared as the centerpiece of the photo-op announcing it, that told the grassroots all they needed to know about the politics of the deal trumpeted as bipartisan.
The Bush Administration has been tone deaf about how offensive are the words comprehensive and compromise. The American people want border security that we can see with our own eyes on television, and they are ready to defeat and disdain Members of Congress who vote for a package deal that contains amnesty and guest worker proposals.
Despite denials, the K-K bill is amnesty. It will give 12 to 20 million illegal aliens exactly what they want, namely, the legal right to remain in the United States by being immediately given a probationary visa.
The K-K bill increases legal migration by at least 50 percent over the next decade by granting green cards to all the remote relatives who are in the chain migration categories, a number estimated at 750,000 to 900,000 a year (triple the current number of 250,000). Giving green cards to millions of additional relatives ensures that legal immigration will continue to grow as this larger pool of permanent residents brings in spouses.
The K-K bill will bring into our country at least 400,000 guest workers per year. That's twice the number in last year's unacceptable Senate bill.
The K-K bill claims that benchmarks must be met before amnesty/guest-worker provisions go into effect. But the benchmarks do not require that we have closed the border, do not require that all the fence be built which Congress mandated last October, do not require that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implement the entry-exit visa system so we can know if visitors and guest workers actually leave, do not require employee verification, and do not require that DHS deport absconders (the 600,000 aliens who have already been ordered deported).
The only thing the bill actually requires is that DHS speedily process amnesty applications and green cards for chain migration.
The K-K bill authorizes 4,000 new Border Patrol agents, but doesn't require that they be actually trained or deployed. It's difficult to hire and keep Border Patrol agents because of the way some have been prosecuted and sentenced to long prison terms after intercepting professional drug smugglers bringing in vans of illegal drugs.
Another benchmark is that "tools" will be provided to prevent illegals from getting jobs, including requirements for ID standards and an employee verification system. But there is no requirement that anybody actually use the tools.
The costs of the K-K bill are mind-boggling, and the Senate has made no attempt to estimate or figure out how to pay them. The Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector puts a potential price tag on this bill of $2.5 trillion, which is five times the cost of the Iraq war!
Rector gave the House Judiciary Committee detailed testimony setting forth how he arrived at this figure. At least 60 percent of illegal aliens lack a high school diploma, which means they will work low-wage jobs, pay little or no income tax, and be heavy users of our schools and means-tested social benefits such as Medicaid, school lunches, WIC, subsidized housing, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and free legal counsel.
Fiscal costs would go up dramatically after amnesty recipients reach retirement. Each elderly low-skill immigrant imposes a net cost (benefits minus taxes) on U.S. taxpayers of about $17,000 per year. These costs would hit Social Security and Medicare at the very time Social Security is expected to go into crisis.
Section 413 calls on Congress to "accelerate the implementation" of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) (announced by Bush at Waco in 2005) so that the U.S. can "improve the standard of living in Mexico." Do U.S. taxpayers want to take on the awesome economic burden of solving poverty problems in Mexico?
The K-K bill states that we want to increase access to credit for "poor and under served populations in Mexico," and expand efforts "to reduce the transaction costs of remittance flows" from the U.S. to Mexico (now running at $23 billion a year).
The K-K bill also puts us into a "partnership" with Mexico for "increasing health care access for poor and under served populations in Mexico," for "assisting Mexico in increasing its emergency and trauma health care facilities," and for "expanding prenatal care" in the border region. It looks like Robert Rector's estimates are only the start of the costs that will put a truly incredible burden on American taxpayers.
Ping ‘em please.
Wait until the actual number of illegals becomes 30 million plus. Of course the powers that be will not tell us that unless this piece of crap bill passes.
By the logic of this immigration bill, I should go
pick out the best Martin, Gibson and Fender guitars and
walk out without paying, then wait for
Congress to pass a bill that allows me ownership without paying.
Mr.Bush cant sell this one. Its bad news. I live in Md. and already have no Representatiojn in the Congress or the Senate. Unfortunately the people who represent me dont care about my vote as long as there are enough stupid Democrats to elect them, However I urge those with Republican Representatives to let them know if they pass this crap they will be out.
RINO reps and and senators are ignoring their constituents concerns as well. Our only hope is that real conconservative reps from real conservative states will fillibuster this amnesty. Maybe we should refocus our energy on those reps.
Called Kyl and Cornyn’s DC offices this morning... told’em EXACTLY how I felt.
I thought this was Kennedy-McCain, just like the Immigration Bill last year. Why is it now in the press as Kennedy-Kyl? Previous to today it was the ‘Compromise Immigration Bill’ in the press no senator’s names attached. I realize many Republicans were in on it. Why not the Kennedy-Sessions bill? Personally, I believe it is another John McCain-ism to separate himself from a lead weight, to give him something to claim distance because he is running for an office (that he’s unfit for). Although I don’t think it’s working.
“El Presidente Jorge Bush vendido fuera a Mexico”!
Just getting in practice.
Our pubbies are moving toward a massive Democrat landslide in 2008. This will be a brave new world where Republicans cannot even garner 41 votes in the Senate to stop things.
A two party system is not conducive to a successful New World Order goal. One party = complete control. Bye bye, Constitution. Bye bye Bill of Rights.
If I couldn’t be Graymatter I would like to be Phyllis Schlafly. Brains AND backbone, not to mention endurance, and character, and energy, and talent.
That's like my aversion to any military program called Joint.
OMG..Tony Snow is living in a dream world.
sw
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti illegal immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them.
They'll especially like it when employers start firing Americans en masse and replacing them with the cheaper labor. It's going to be the H-1B program on steroids.
ping
Well said
The criminal fascist syndicate occupying Washington is calling for a foreign invasion of the sovereign nation of the United States.
I know what this sounds like to me.
And what was Neil’s response?
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