Re: Trillions and Trillions of Dollars: Immigration-Bill Costs Old Media Won't Talk About

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:11:29 -0700, sordo?@mini-tru.org wrote:

Trillions and Trillions of Dollars: Immigration-Bill Costs Old Media
Won't Talk About

Posted by Tom Blumer on June 23, 2007 - 10:26.
http://newsbusters.org/node/13685

The late Senator Everett Dirksen had a famous saying on federal
spending: "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to
real money."

When it comes to the immigration bill currently being considered by the
Senate, Old Media apparently believes: "A trillion here, a trillion
there, if it's a cause we're okay with, we won't talk about it."

The Senior Citizens League issued a press release on Tuesday (HT One
News Now) on what it believes is a trillion-dollar (rounded) Social
Security-related loophole in the bill:

June 19, 2007 (Washington, DC) ? The immigration bill being debated
by the Senate would allow over two million illegal workers who received
Social Security numbers prior to 2004 to receive more than $966 billion
in Social Security benefits by 2040.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced an amendment to the bill
(S.A. 1415), subsequently passed by voice vote, that would prevent
illegal workers who performed illegal work and then obtained a Social
Security number after January 1, 2004 from receiving credit for Social
Security taxes paid in previous years. However, the amendment does
nothing to prevent aliens who obtained "non-work" Social Security
numbers prior to 2004 and then performed illegal work from claiming
benefits.

The loophole was revealed by TREA Senior Citizens League, a
nonpartisan seniors advocacy organization with 1.2 million supporters,
based in Alexandria, Virginia.

..... Between 1974 and 2003, the Social Security Administration
issued more than seven million "non-work" Social Security numbers, which
entitled some foreign nationals ? some of whom were illegal aliens ? to
services such as Medicaid and food stamps. The majority of non-work
Social Security numbers were issued during an era of less restrictive
immigration policy; in some cases, aliens didn't need proof of
citizenship to receive a number.

Despite their "non-work" status, millions performed unlawful work.
Under the Senate legislation currently being considered, this group
would be eligible for Social Security benefits.

I have done the math, and believe that if the League is correct about
the 2 million eligible illegals, the $966 billion in estimated payouts
between now and 2040 is an accurate estimate.

Previously, Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has looked at the
burdens taxpayers would take on if the immigration bill passes, and has
estimated (quote is from a National Review column by Heritage's Brian
Darling) "that this bill will cost the taxpayers $2.6 trillion dollars
in retirement costs for the beneficiaries of this bill." It is not clear
whether the amount noted earlier by the Senior Citizens League is in
addition to or is already part of what Rector has estimated.

Regardless, Old Media's coverage of the huge costs of the bill has been
rare to non-existent. By contrast, those who remember the late 1990s
will recall that media coverage of impeachment-related events rarely
failed to mention the cost of Ken Starr's legal efforts, which ended up
being in the neighborhood of $40 ..... million.

A Google News search on "immigration trillion" (without quotes) shows
virtually no Old Media items within the past week. The same search at
the New York Times on the last 30 days comes up bone dry. The Washington
Post? A few op-eds, but no hard-news stories.

How are Old Media's readers to evaluate the bill without information
about its costs? This journalistic failure is one more reason why more
and more news consumers are turning to New Media to get basic facts.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

I heard this afternoon that if the current immigration bill passes,
the CBO anticipates a reduction of 13% in illegal immigration to the
United States. Is 13% even noticeable?
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Trillions and Trillions of Dollars: Immigration-Bill Costs Old Media Wont Talk About
    ... The simple fact is the long term prospects for the solvency of Social Security is pretty grim. ... When it comes to the immigration bill currently being considered by the ... the 2 million eligible illegals, the $966 billion in estimated payouts ... Old Media's coverage of the huge costs of the bill has been ...
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