Immigration Bill Advocates Tout CBO Report Showing Deficit Reduction

Both the White House and Group of Eight member Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) lauded a Congressional Budget Office scoring of the immigration bill that found the mammoth bill would significantly reduce the deficit.

The CBO found that the bill would reduce the deficit over the next 10 years by $197 billion, and by about $700 billion over the following decade.

“Today, we have more proof that bipartisan commonsense immigration reform will be good for economic growth and deficit reduction: this time, in the form of a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimate,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

“This comes on the heels of a recent analysis by the independent Social Security Administration’s Chief Actuary last month, that the Senate bipartisan immigration bill will strengthen the long-term solvency of Social Security for future generations,” Carney continued. “The Congressional Budget Office also made clear that passage of the immigration bill would not only reduce the deficit, it would increase economic growth for years to come.”

Rubio touted the CBO report as proof that the bill needs to move forward.

“The CBO has further confirmed what most conservative economists have found: reforming our immigration system is a net benefit for our economy, American workers and taxpayers,” Rubio said.

“There remain some key areas that need to be tightened up to prevent those who have violated our immigration laws from accessing federal benefit programs,” he continued. “But overall, the CBO report offers encouraging evidence that the status quo is unacceptable and we can end it without burdening our already burdened taxpayers and, in fact, reduce the deficit over the next 20 years.”