Immigration Reform

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. I thank the gentleman from Colorado for yielding time.

Even though the economy is improving and job creation levels are the highest they've been in 4 years, the top priority for all Members of Congress must be putting people back to work and strengthening the economy.

Despite what opponents of immigration reform say, the bill proposed in the Senate does just that; and, moreover, it strengthens Social Security.

One of the Republican architects of the Senate bill, Senator Marco Rubio, sent a letter to the Social Security Administration's chief actuary, asking for the net effect of comprehensive immigration reform on the Social Security trust fund.

In his reply, Chief Actuary Goss stated that they are developing 75-year estimates, but, quote, and this is Actuary Goss speaking, ``overall, we anticipate that the net effect of this bill,'' meaning comprehensive immigration reform, ``on the long-range Social Security actuarial balance, will be positive.''

The actuary's office also states that over the next 10 years, comprehensive immigration reform will prevent 2 million illegal border crossings, create 3.2 million jobs, and increase the rate of growth on our gross domestic product by a third.

Opponents of immigration reform don't seem to understand that many of the undocumented immigrants in this Nation are already working. Yet because of their illegal status, they are forced into the underground economy, with no labor protections and no way to pay into the system.

Put plainly, undocumented immigrants are often paid cash under the table, and often drastically less than the minimum wage. Allowing these individuals to come out of the shadows and putting them on the pathway to citizenship brings them into the system, where they will pay taxes and receive basic protections against abuse.

For example, an undocumented worker in my district may only be making $4 or $5 an hour, instead of the California minimum wage of $8 an hour. If comprehensive immigration reform is passed, he or she will be eligible for the minimum wage, which will, in turn, increase his buying power, raise revenues for businesses, and drive up wages for everyone else, thus increasing our annual GDP growth rate, as shown here on this chart.

Now, just to be clear, without comprehensive immigration reform, our annual growth rate will only be 4.5 percent. But with comprehensive immigration reform, our annual growth rate shoots up to 6.1 percent.

If the priority of this body is putting Americans back to work and strengthening our economy, then it must pass comprehensive immigration reform that creates a pathway to citizenship and allows undocumented workers the ability to work under the same labor protections and pay into the same system as everyone else.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Well, a 2 percent growth rate could translate into a reduction of our current 11 percent unemployment rate in my district, which is located in Riverside County. We often, in the Inland Empire, as we call the region of California where I represent, we often lag behind the rest of the State when we are coming out of economic downturns.

What I find most interesting about Chief Actuary Goss's statement, his reply to Senator Rubio's question was how comprehensive immigration reform will have a positive net effect on Social Security.

And if you think about that carefully, and you compare our Nation to, say, a nation such as Japan, where there is no inflow of immigration, and where the population is aging, or other advanced nations where there is no significant amount of immigration, and their populations are aging, they are facing tremendous stresses on the ways in which they are going to provide for their senior citizens.

It only makes sense that, to keep Social Security solvent, we want young, vibrant inflows of capable workers to pay the taxes that will support Social Security into the future.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. I agree. That's a very good question. Chained CPI, as you know, was--many Americans may not know what chained CPI means. CPI is the consumer price index, and that's the way in which the increase in Social Security benefits are calculated.

There are some economists who've proposed something called chained CPI, which assumes that seniors could withstand a slight reduction in their benefits because they could substitute other goods and services that are cheaper.

But the main goods and services that senior citizens consume are health care and medicines and prescription drugs. Those goods and services they can count on increasing faster than the rate of inflation.

Let's look at how this immigration bill is going to work.

For the first 10 years, registered provisional status for the immigrants who have been previously undocumented would mean that people would be legal in this country, on legal status. They would be paying taxes, but they could not be drawing any Social Security benefits out. I personally have some problems with this. But under this current law, for 10 years, we would see millions of workers who are under the Social Security cap who would be paying into the Social Security Trust Fund, but none of them would be able to draw anything out for at least 10 years. You just do the simple back-of-the-envelope math, and you have to understand what an inflow of revenue that would be to the system.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Yes, it's a double benefit that many people may not have been aware of, a double positive effect on our economy. For many people it's counterintuitive to think that by reforming immigration and by giving legal status to undocumented immigrants to allow them to come out of the shadows and to be protected by our labor laws that that would have a net positive effect on all wages, but it would. These people are already working, and they're working currently, many of them, at sub-minimum wage levels. If we bring them up to minimum wage, it will mean an even playing field for all workers. There's a kind of rising tide effect that lifts all boats.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. I associate myself with the gentleman's comments. I am very heartened by this announcement. I will, of course, temper my enthusiasm until I actually see the elements of this compromise. But what many folks here are saying on the Hill--which I'll reveal here on the floor of the House--is I think there is great hope on both sides of the aisle that if we can pass comprehensive immigration reform it will be evidence, the first evidence in a long time, that this body is functional and can work and that our government can do great things. So I am cautiously optimistic, and thank you for sharing that information.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. I agree. We need a holistic approach. I was very impressed that the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce were able to come together and sign off on what Senators, the Group of Eight in the Senate, had devised.

My goodness, if the Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO can come together, certainly Republicans and Democrats in this institution can come together, as well.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Thank you for this time to share our vision for moving forward with the American people. I wake up each day excited to come to work, to work on their behalf. Despite our divisions, despite the rancor we see sometimes on the various cable shows, it's an enormous honor to serve in this institution, and it's a great honor to serve in this institution with the gentleman. I must bid adieu. I have to get going, but thank you so much.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source