Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.) just might be my hero of the day.
He's the only senator seriously exploring and then explaining the numerical impacts of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (S. 2611).
Sessions and Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation recently ran separate analyses on the bill (otherwise known as the Martinez-Hagel-Specter-McCain-Kennedy amnesty plan) and came up with similar results, which they announced this morning in a press conference.
The two men dismissed the bill for its short-sidedness, pointing out the numerous short- and long-term negative economic consequences it will have if passed.
Sessions said his colleagues on Capitol Hill are hustling to rush a bill through the Senate that would have disastrous effects.
"Until now, most of us have focused on securing the border and deciding how to treat the illegal alien population already in the United States," he said. "Few, if any, of us have looked ahead to see what the long-term numerical impact of the bill would be. My staff and I have just completed such a study, and the results are shocking.
As we being debate today on the floor, my goal is to get these numbers before my colleagues so that they can appreciate just how breath-takingly unsatisfactory this 614-page Senate bill is. We know that this country is going to treat the illegal alien population fairly. However, if the Senate wants to be successful in passing immigration reform, it should produce a bill that secures the borders and the workplace and establishes a commonsense, carefully thought out, legally enforceable policy for legal immigration in the future. For our immigration system to work, the Senate bill must guarantee that today's façade of the enforcement and illegal immigration flows won't exist in the future."
An expert in domestic policy, Rector said the legislation is the most dramatic he’s seen in years and will have "monumental" ramifications if passed. For a full rundown of his report, see his article posted at here at humanevents.com.
