Sen. Wayne Allard looked a little lonely Wednesday as he took testimony from a highly select group of witnesses on the cost of illegal immigration. Sitting alone on a dais at the municipal building in Aurora, Allard was the only member of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee to show up for hearings touted by his office for more than a month.
The supposed purpose of the hearing was to advance Congress’ work on immigration reform.
It was a prime opportunity for Allard to illuminate one of the most significant issues of the year and help break the logjam among House and Senate Republicans.
But of course he had no such thing in mind. Instead, Allard skewed the hearings, allowing only hand-selected witnesses to testify. He must have been tempted to hear from all sides, but the devil made him cast the event as political theater. Protestors who marched outside, including many who wanted to testify, got more attention than the witnesses. And, the protestors represented a broad range of views.
Even then, Allard’s witnesses acknowledged the costs of illegal immigration are difficult to calculate, partly because immigration is a federal responsibility and states until now had not tried to sort out the numbers. “As we have learned here in Colorado in recent months, some of the costs can be elusive,” Gov. Bill Owens said.
That’s not to say that some interesting numbers weren’t discussed. Robert Rector of the conservative Heritage Foundation projected a $50 billion burden to taxpayers for added benefits and services over the next three decades. Paul Cullinan of the Congressional Budget Office forecast an increase of $48 billion in federal spending for mandatory services.
Owens, the star witness, was flush with fiscal alarm – $30 million a year in Medicaid spending for noncitizen births in Colorado, $235 million to educate “illegal alien students in Colorado” in 2004 plus $329 million to educate U.S.-born children of illegals. Owens also said that 950 illegal immigrants are in prison at an annual cost of $25 million. These numbers add up and give Republicans plenty of reasons to resolve their differences and pass a strong immigration bill.
Allard could play a valuable role by simply changing his vote – he was among only 36 senators who opposed the Senate’s comprehensive reform bill. (The bill was supported by 62 senators and President Bush but opposed by GOP forces in the House).
We urge Congress to wash away the bad taste of these summer show hearings and buckle down to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
