Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BENNET. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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Mr. BENNET. Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about the bill that has been before us for the last week and a half or so to fix our broken immigration system.

As the Presiding Officer knows, this bill has been the product of bipartisan work both in the so-called Gang of 8, which I have the privilege to be a part of, as well as in the Judiciary Committee where they ran a process that set a standard for the way this place ought to operate. We considered over 300 amendments in the Judiciary Committee, accepting 141 amendments, many of them from Republicans and Democrats alike. Now we are on the floor.

Those who want to delay immigration reform, who want to defeat immigration reform, are using every tactic they can find to try to stop this bill. But, fortunately, there are other people of goodwill on both sides of the aisle who are trying to come to an agreement.

We focused a lot in the last week, as we should, talking about the border. I spoke about the progress we have already made in securing our southern border. There is more to do. There is progress that is reflected in the underlying bill, and if that can be improved in a way that does not make the pathway to citizenship contingent or unreal, I think there are those of us who are willing to hear what that looks like.

What we have not spent time on is actually what people in Colorado have spent their time on when it comes to the question of fixing our broken immigration system, which is the way the current system defeats them in their efforts to build their businesses in this economy and the promise that could be achieved if we actually were able to pass this bill as it has been written. I have heard from people from every walk of life across the State of Colorado who have been hurt by our outdated and unreasonable and unimaginative and un-American immigration laws. They understand in their gut the velocity we can add to the economy by fixing the system, if Washington would just do its work. They include high-tech companies on the Front Range including the bioscience, engineering, and aerospace industries, among others. One of those companies, Newsgator, an innovative social media software company based in Denver, makes a compelling case. Its chairman and founding CEO J.B. Holston told our office:

I have been watching the immigration debate closely because my company relies on high-skilled technology workers. In the 21st century global economy, we are in an arms race--

we are in an arms race--

for recruiting, attracting, and retaining the world's best and brightest. Our current immigration system is a barrier to American businesses winning that race.

Stalled progress on immigration also sidelines growth capital for U.S. high tech companies. That's a toxic combination for growth.

The proposed immigration overhaul bill is a great step forward.

It is not only the high-tech sector feeling these pain points. Farmers, including peach growers on the western slope, cattle ranchers on the eastern plains, and onion growers in the northern part of our State, and tourism and the ski industry across Colorado are feeling it as well, and DREAMers from the Denver public school system and other school districts, rural and urban, struggling to go to college and work toward a career because of their legal status.

We made a commitment when we set out as the Gang of 8, Democrats and Republicans working together, that our legislation would be deficit neutral, that it wouldn't add one dime--not one dollar--to our deficit. That was an important principle for the members of this group because, as the Presiding Officer knows, we face significant deficits, significant national debt.

Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office not only affirmed the stories I am hearing from my tech community and my agricultural community and from businesses all across the State about economic growth, it also had some incredible news with respect to our deficit. CBO estimates if we pass this bill, we will reduce the deficit by almost $200 billion in the first decade and almost $700 billion in the second decade--almost $1 trillion. Even in Washington, DC, that is real money. There will be almost $1 trillion of deficit reduction over the next two decades as a consequence of this bill.

So let's break down what the CBO is saying. This bill will increase employment and jobs in the country. More workers will come here. More people will build businesses here. They will consume more and invest more. This will spur economic growth.

These are not my opinions. These are not the opinions of the Gang of 8, although we share these opinions. These are the opinions of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as a result of reading this bill.

Our bill also allows millions of Americans who are currently undocumented to step out of the shadows of a cash economy and start contributing more to our economy as they earn more.

When you crunch the numbers, based on the Congressional Budget Office score, this bill will significantly increase our gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, and reduce deficits.

The CBO found that projected deficits will decline significantly over the next decade as a consequence of this legislation.

Every year, from 2015 on, they expect deficits to go down. It is going to end up, as I said earlier, saving us $197 billion between now and 2023.

It turns out that based on this estimate, we will only begin to see the benefits of this bill in the first decade. The economic benefits of this bill actually accelerate in the second decade. From2024 to 2033 the bill would reduce deficits by $690 billion.

I realize we have gotten in the habit around this place of thinking in 30-day increments or 60-day increments. It is driving folks at home crazy. This is a chance for us to reset for the 21st century.

The CBO has done the math. What that math tells you--despite what other people who do not want to have immigration reform for whatever reason have said, who claim that this is going to drive our deficits through the roof--that math tells us we have a total of $887 billion in deficit reduction over the next 20 years.

Here is a surprising fact that is buried in the Congressional Budget Office report: Those deficit-reduction estimates are actually conservative. CBO is only counting the most obvious savings in their estimate. It is not including other more indirect economic benefits--such as increased productivity--that will likely yield additional savings.

Here is what CBO actually says in its report. This is a direct quote:

According to CBO's central estimates (within a range that reflects the uncertainty about two key economic relationships in CBO's analysis), the economic impacts not included in the cost estimate would have no further net effect on budget deficits over the 2014-2023 period and would further reduce deficits (relative to the effects reported in the cost estimate) by about $300 billion over the 2024-2033 period.

Let me put that another way. The CBO is saying this bill could actually, when you factor in the economic effects, reduce deficits by $300 billion more in the second decade than it actually projects in the cost estimates.

One way or another, we are either just below or just above $1 trillion, and that is real money, particularly in light of the sequester--the law we had written to be so terrible and so ugly it would never, ever go into effect, but now is the law of the land. What a more destructive way to get $1 trillion in savings than a bunch of automatic, across-the-board cuts. In fact, the prominent conservative economist Doug Holtz-Eakin said a few months ago that he thought, using a dynamic scoring model, the immigration bill could reduce deficits by even more--shaving as much as $2.7 trillion off our deficits.

So until yesterday we had not heard what this nonpartisan group, the Congressional Budget Office, had to say about this immigration bill. But it supports what we have already heard from businesses at home, our industry leaders across the country, and economists no matter what political stripe they are, that fixing our immigration system is going to help strengthen our economy. We know it will secure our borders. We know it will reunite families. And we know it will bring people who came to this country for a better life a chance to come out of the shadows and contribute to our democracy and contribute to our economy in the 21st century, as they did in the 20th century and as they did in the 19th century before that.

What we have not heard is a convincing case to maintain the status quo that is holding back our economy, that is keeping unresolved the question about what to do with the 11 million people who are living in our shadow economy, and what we are to do to reinvite talented people from around the world to make their best contribution in America. That is what this bill represents. This bill is a reaffirmation of the idea that we are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. The Senate should pass this bill.

I yield the floor.

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