Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) office is fighting back against a claim that the Corker-Hoeven amendment to the immigration reform bill includes free cars for youths.
“Breitbart News has learned there is a provision included in the immigration bill that could be used to give free cars, motorcycles, scooters or other vehicles to young people around the country over a period of 15 months after the bill passes. The new provision is a result of the latest addition to the Corker-Hoeven amendment, which is essentially an entirely new version of the bill,” Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle wrote yesterday.
“There are absolutely no cars, motorcycles, or scooters for young Americans in the immigration bill, and no taxpayer dollars will be used to fund the new jobs program for American youth,” Rubio’s office said in a “mythbuster” fact sheet sent to reporters today.
The language of the bill reads that the jobs program includes “supportive services, such as transportation and child care.”
“The qualifier here is that they will be provided ‘services’ and not ‘goods.’ That means the program could provide a service, like a bus ride to a work site, but it cannot provide a car, scooter, motorcycle, or pair of rollerblades,” Rubio’s office said.
The jobs program will be funded by a new visa application fee to be paid by foreigners.
“This program is being created because of concerns about American kids competing with foreign workers for low-skill jobs, so to protect them, foreign workers will pay for job training programs for American youth,” Rubio’s office continued.
The senator’s staff compared the “ObamaCar” story to the “MarcoPhone” story, also from Boyle, about a provision to give rural residents and business owners near the Mexican border access to cell phones to report illegal crossings and border violence.
“The ‘MarcoPhone’ myth was so baseless that not a single amendment has ever been filed throughout this entire legislative process to eliminate or even clarify this provision or its intent,” Rubio’s office said.
Boyle fired back against Rubio’s office, writing, “This narrow reading of the bill is unlikely to be applied by the federal government.”
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