Hearing hopes to shed light

Senate panel trying to gauge impact of proposed legislation

Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 30, 2006 at midnight

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As contentious as illegal immigration has become, most everyone likely will agree on one thing when a congressional hearing takes place in Aurora today:

The immigration system is broken.

Deciding how to fix it, however, is another matter.

Even discussing how to change immigration laws has been difficult. More than 400 bills on the topic were introduced in Congress this year, and both houses passed major reform bills. But lawmakers have not yet taken the next step: bringing both sides to the table to hammer out compromises that could become law.

Today's field hearing of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee in Aurora is not likely to bring lawmakers closer to a compromise. Instead, Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard asked for the hearing in hopes of shedding light on the effects of proposed legislation on federal, state and local governments.

"The main thing is to get this information part of the public record," Allard said. "I think it's important we fully understand the financial consequences of our actions."

The committee will hear testimony from two panels. Both immigrant advocate groups and groups opposed to illegal immigration in Colorado have complained that they weren't allowed to give testimony.

The first panel includes Gov. Bill Owens, Heritage Foundation senior researcher Robert Rector, and Paul Cullinan of the Congressional Budget Office.

Cullinan's agency recently released an analysis showing the Senate's immigration reform bill would cost taxpayers an estimated $126 billion over a decade. That includes building a partial fence along the border with Mexico, adding 15,000 Border Patrol agents, and providing some $50 billion in tax credits, Social Security and other federal benefits for newly legalized immigrants.

CBO analysts believe the increase in costs would be partially offset by a $43.6 billion increase in revenue, mostly from employment taxes. That would bring the total increased costs of the Senate plan to $82.4 billion, roughly a 55 percent increase over current spending.

That average of $8.24 billion a year over 10 years is considered "new spending." It would come on top of the current immigration budget request of $14.9 billion for the three arms of the system: border security, enforcement, and citizenship and immigration services.

The second panel to testify at today's hearing features Colorado law enforcement and business officials, including Helen Krieble, whose proposal to use private business to create secure immigration documents could become a key feature in a potential compromise brewing in Washington, D.C.

Those Americans wanting immigration reform - polls say more than eight in 10 Americans do - watched this year while Congress left for spring break without working out a compromise. Then lawmakers missed a summer recess deadline. Now, it appears unlikely that Congress will reach any agreement before lawmakers leave late next month for fall break.

The series of congressional hearings has been billed alternately as a chance to hear what America wants, and as an excuse for Congress to do nothing until after the election.

Democrats charge that Republicans don't want to commit to specific - and potentially politically difficult - reforms until after the elections. But those same Democrats haven't pushed too hard, either, in part because they think inaction is making the GOP look bad.

Frustrations are mounting.

"It feels like a red herring to be raising cost issues in Colorado in August," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a national immigrants rights organization. "The cost issues are not insignificant. But I think, really, people are going to be wondering why politicians spent their summer in hearings. There were two immigration bills passed this year. Their job is to reconcile those differences."

Hearing today

• What: Senate Budget Committee

• When: 2:30 p.m.

• Where: Aurora City Council Chambers, 1515 E. Alameda Parkway, Aurora

frankl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5091

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