Costs, effects incalculable
The Washington Times
The immigration “reform” legislation pushed by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and Jon Kyl and others, applauded by Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, and Carlos Gutierrez, the secretary of Commerce, is a disaster in the making. That is not so slowly becoming abundantly clear.
It’s a disaster for national security, for keeping Islamist jihadists out of the country, for exploding the costs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, for preserving the rule of law, and for that quaint principle called national sovereignty. From the details that have leaked out thus far, the legislation, which provides amnesty for nearly all of the 12 million (or maybe even 20 million) illegal aliens already here, would swell the size of the welfare state in a way we haven’t seen since Lyndon Johnson imposed his Great Society on us four decades ago.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who is likely to lead the fight to save the nation from this disaster, and Robert Rector will reveal at a press conference this morning the details of just how expensive it will be. We’re talking trillions of dollars — that’s not millions or even billions — over the next several decades.Senate floor debate on the bill begins today, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid clearly wants to force it through before Memorial Day, before senators and everyone else can become familiar with even a fraction of what is in this massive bill, which could run to 800 pages. It was still being written over the weekend. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is said to lean in favor of the bill, yesterday said that at least two weeks would be required for a serious Senate debate on such a complex piece of legislation. We hope he means it when he says “serious debate.” To win the support of conservatives who opposed last year’s immigration bill, the administration agreed that provisions enabling illegals to remain here could only become effective after new border-control measures are in place.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20070520-094056-4013r.htm