04/11/08 Dear Colleague Letter from Reps. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) and Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.)

THE COSTS OF DOING NOTHING
It's time to pass the SAVE Act (H.R. 4088)

Dear Colleague,

Recent claims by some have pointed to the costs associated with H.R. 4088, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act, but they fail to take into account the costs of doing nothing. Many of these reports ignore education, medical, and incarceration costs for illegal aliens that our government absorbs every day. North Carolina and California alone pay several billion dollars per year to provide these public services to illegal aliens. After discussions with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation, they have agreed to revisit these aforementioned costs and also account for items in the SAVE Act that have already been appropriated since its introduction.

Opponents of the SAVE Act claim the federal government is reliant on $17.3 billion in revenue from illegal aliens over the next 10 years. They fear that if the United States enforces existing immigration laws the federal government could lose these 'vital' tax dollars. What message are we sending to our constituents with this rhetoric? Is this revenue loss more important than the rule of law and American security?

Additionally, the recent CBO report stated that enacting the SAVE Act would amount to $2 billion dollars per year in real costs for the first five years of implementation. This modest estimate represents 1/6,000th of our annual GDP. Recently, this Congress found $164 billion for tax rebate checks to jumpstart our economy. Surely we can justify $2 billion a year to secure our borders, protect American workers and enforce EXISTING LAWS.

Let's examine some of our opponents' erroneous claims:

Claim #1: Implementing the E-Verify employment verification system required by the SAVE Act would cost private-sector employers $136 million.

FACT: E-Verify is a quick, easy, and free web-based system for employers to use. The only "cost" is time spent entering information into the database.

FACT: According to the Homeland Security Department, 92 percent of all new hire queries are authorized in less than 5 seconds.

FACT: E-Verify is already being used by more than 59,000 employers on a voluntary basis. It is required by law in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Additionally, all state agencies in North Carolina use E-Verify. In total, nearly a dozen states already require some or all employers to use E-Verify. In fact, if a member of your staff is reading this, they have been processed through E-Verify when you hired them to work in your Congressional office.

FACT: According to Gannett News Service: "…Arizona mandated that all businesses use E-Verify starting Jan. 1, 2008 and fewer problems have been reported than originally feared, said Ann Seiden, spokeswoman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce that opposed the measure in the legislature last year."

"Companies haven't left the state in reaction to E-Verify, she said, and employers haven't reported major problems with the database."

"Anecdotally, we haven't heard as much backlash as we originally thought," Seiden said.

Claim #2: The bill would cost state and local governments $68 million to comply with employment verification requirements.

FACT: Employment verification is a FEDERAL responsibility. E-Verify is a FEDERAL program that will reduce the burden being placed on state and local governments. The legal status of a worker will be checked through the FEDERAL E-Verify database.

Claim #3: The SAVE Act represents $138 million in unfunded mandates.

FACT: This claim is unsubstantiated and completely ignores the CBO report from December 2007 on the costs of illegal immigration on local and state governments That report stated, "In general, state and local governments bear much of the cost of providing certain public services—especially services related to education, health care, and law enforcement—to individuals residing in their jurisdictions. Such programs constitute a major portion of those governments' annual expenditures…"

Examples from the December 2007 CBO Report:

The state and local governments in Colorado spent between $217 million and $225 million for education, Medicaid, and corrections for illegal aliens.

2. The state and local governments in Minnesota spent between $79 million and $118 million to educate an estimated 9,400 to 14,000 children who were unauthorized immigrants in the 2003 –2004 school years. The agency also estimated that an additional $39 million was spent for children who were U.S. citizens but whose parents were unauthorized immigrants (pg. 16) – TOTAL COST to MINNESOTA for EDUCATION – Minimum $118 million

3. The state and local governments in New Mexico spent about $67 million to educate 9,200 unauthorized immigrant schoolchildren in the 2003 –2004 school years. (pg. 16)

4. County governments that share a border with Mexico incurred nearly $190 million in uncompensated health care costs for illegal aliens in 2000; one-quarter of all uncompensated health care costs incurred by the governments in that year.

5. Law enforcement activities in four states – California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas – cost some COUNTY governments that share a border with Mexico a combined total of more than $108 million in 1999.

6. In 2006, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority estimated that it would spend about $9.7 million on emergency Medicaid services for unauthorized immigrants that year. The agency's actual total spending for that year was $3.1 Billion.

FACT: Those claiming unfunded mandates also ignore other statements from the CBO's December 2007 report including:

"…estimates also show that the cost of providing public services to unauthorized immigrants at the state and local levels exceeds what that population pays in state and local taxes."

"State and local governments incur costs for providing services to unauthorized immigrants and have limited options for avoiding or minimizing those costs."

"The tax revenues that unauthorized immigrants generate for state and local governments do not offset the total cost of services provided to those immigrants."

"Federal aid programs offer resources to state and local governments that provide services to unauthorized immigrants, but those funds do not fully cover the costs incurred by those governments."

Claim #4: The SAVE Act will cause $17 billion in anticipated tax losses during a ten year period.

FACT: The federal government should not be counting on revenues from an illegal workforce.

FACT: Those who claim that this bill will reduce tax revenue completely ignore the fact that illegal immigrants earn significantly less than legal immigrants, due to the nature of illegal labor. The CBO and other reputable organizations agree that tax receipts from illegal aliens do not cover the public assistance they receive.

FACT: CBO says in their December 2007 report that illegal immigrants, "…in New York State paid an average of 15 percent of their income in federal, state, and local taxes; other immigrant groups paid between 21 percent and 31 percent."

FACT: CBO says in their December 2007 report, "The average household income for unauthorized families is significantly less than that of both legal immigrants and native born citizens; therefore, that income is taxed at a lower rate than the income of other groups."

FACT: CBO says in their December 2007 report, "A related effect is that lower-paying jobs also result in unauthorized immigrants' having less disposable income to spend on purchases subject to sales or use taxes. State and local governments typically rely more heavily on revenues from those and other sources (such as property taxes) than revenues generated by taxes on income."

If Members of either party think misrepresenting a cost estimate on the SAVE Act with baseless claims is going to deter efforts to secure America's borders and enforce existing laws, they are mistaken. We ask our colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 4088 and request that Congress stop trying to outsmart the American people on illegal immigration by talking tough and doing nothing.

Sincerely,