Heritage in the news: May 2007

May 30, 2007

• The DREAM Act makes available in-state tuition for illegal aliens when U.S. citizens attending the same university may have to pay three times as much money, Kris Kobach tells the Medill News Service.
• “If the USCIS fails once again to meet the challenge, the laws of supply and demand will overtake US immigration laws", driving workers and employers to bypass the law, James Carafano tells the Inter-Asia News Service.
• The $2.5 trillion cost of illegal immigrants “is going to come smashing into the Social Security and Medicare systems at exactly the point those systems are already going bankrupt,” Robert Rector tells Townhall.com.
• Congress’ proposed immigration legislation will add 103 million people into the United States in 20 years and cost American taxpayers $2.3 trillion, Robert Rector tells Human Events Online.
• “Most conservatives have very strong feelings that this bill contains amnesty . . . and no yelling and screaming by the administration is going to change our minds,” Brian Darling tells The Washington Post.
• Congress’ proposed immigration legislation is a nightmare, James Carafano tells The Federal Times.
• Marylee Shrider notes that the entire text of Congress’ proposed immigration bill can be found on the Heritage website.

May 29, 2007

• American taxpayers spent $564 billion on welfare programs in Fiscal Year 2004, Robert Rector and Christine Kim tell WorldNetDaily.
• Robert Rector is cited at HumanEvents.com as saying that Congress’ proposed immigration legislation threatens American security.
• Under Congress’ proposed immigration legislation, those holding “Z visas” would cost U.S. taxpayers $2.4 trillion, Robert Rector is quoted as saying in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
• James Carafano explains Congress’ bait-and-switch on immigration enforcement in a FoxNews.com column
• Columnist James Pinkerton cites Robert Rector’s finding that the total net social cost of amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants will be $2.5 trillion over 30 years.
• A Springfield News-Leader letter to the editor cites a Heritage finding on immigration costs
• A letter to the Birmingham, Alabama News cites Heritage’s finding that the future cost of illegal immigrants will be $2.5 trillion.
• Congress’ proposed immigration legislation is bad public policy being used to advance a political agenda, Robert Bluey writes at TownHall.com.
• A McClatchy-Tribune column cites a Heritage finding that each household of unskilled immigrants receives nearly three dollars in taxpayer-funded services for every dollar they pay in taxes.
• A Washington Times editorial quotes Kris Kobach and Matthew Spalding’s finding that “Z visas” let illegal immigrants roam through the country and seek employment legally.
• United Press International quotes a study on economic mobility prepared by Heritage in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute and the Urban Institute.
• The Z visa provisions in Jim DeMint’s amendment to the new immigration bill are similar to the 1986 immigration law, which was widely described then as authorizing amnesty for undocumented foreigners, Brian Darling tells TheState.com.

May 25, 2007

• People see the new immigration bill as “an amnesty that was agreed behind closed doors and which rewards law-breakers,” Brian Darling tells The Financial Times.
• A Daily Town Talk editorial cites a Heritage finding that "on average, low-skill immigrant households received $30,160 per household in immediate government benefits and services in 2004.  By contrast, low-skill immigrant households paid only $10,573 in taxes."
• The Associated Press cites a Heritage finding that “the up escalator that has historically ensured that each generation would do better than the last may not be working very well.”
• A Copley News Service editorial quotes Robert Rector’s figure that Congress’ proposed immigration legislation would cost $2.5 trillion, which is five times the cost of the Iraq war.

May 23, 2007

• Allowing Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to run again is part of a largely positive constitutional reform, Ariel Cohen writes in The Washington Times.
• Russia is targeting countries previously under Soviet dominance with increasingly threatening behavior, Helle Dale writes in The Washington Times.
• “Anyone who looks closely at the fiscal implications of the Senate immigration bill owes a debt of thanks to Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation,” writes The Washington Times.
• A Heritage study finding that unless entitlement spending is restrained, the costs will leap from 8.4 percent to 18.9 percent of GDP by 2050 is cited in The Hattiesburg American.
• Amanda Marcotte is an anti-Catholic, trash-talking bigot, Robert Bluey tells National Journal.
• The Huntsville Times cites a Heritage study finding that the cost of illegals will be $2.5 trillion in the future; that's $19,000 for every American household.
• The Denver Post cites a Heritage study finding that the cost of illegal immigrants is $2.4 trillion, most of it in future benefits from welfare, Medicare and Social Security.
• Though the Senate apparently had no plans to make its proposed immigration bill public before it was voted on, the Heritage Foundation “thwarted that plan and did the public a great service by acquiring a copy of the proposed legislation and immediately posting a draft of it online,” Family Security Matters reports.
• The $2.5 trillion cost of Congress’ proposed immigration bill “is going to come smashing into the Social Security and Medicare systems at exactly the point those systems are already going bankrupt,” Robert Rector tells FOX News.
• The costs to American taxpayers for low-skilled immigrant households is $19, 588 per household per year, Robert Rector tells National Review.

May 22, 2007

• The Dayton Daily News cites Heritage on expanding children’s health insurance.
• Strict new national standards for driver’s licenses are a reasonable step to curb identity fraud, James Carafano tells Cleveland’s Plain Dealer.
• Issues like abortion and gay marriage didn’t exist in the 1950s when Lee Edwards worked on Barry Goldwater’s campaign, he tells The Chattanooga Times Free Press.
• Salon cites a Heritage study finding that each low-skilled amnesty household could cost the American taxpayer $20,000 each year.
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution cites a Heritage study finding that Congress’ proposed immigration bill would represent a $2.3 trillion net loss to the United States over the lifetime of the people given amnesty.
• Forbes mentions Robert W. Poole Jr.’s summary of the current air travel disaster.
• The controversial Guam reparations bill could cost taxpayers $126 million, Ed Feulner writes in this Heritage op-ed piece.
• Wyoming senators cite a Heritage study on the costs of the Senate immigration bill.
• Lee Edwards discusses the death of Jerry Falwell at CitizenLink.org.
• The average low-skilled immigrant household received $30,160 in direct benefits, means-tested benefits, education, and other services from all levels of government in 2004, Robert Rector tells US News and World Report.
• WorldNetDaily cites a Heritage study finding that over half of the 12-20 million illegal immigrants are high-school dropouts who will tap into $50 billion per year in entitlements.
• Jimmy Carter’s slam at President Bush goes against the ex-presidents’ code of conduct, Lee Edwards tells Bloomberg.
• Liberals are complaining about conservative philanthropy that supports organizations like Heritage, The Denver Post reports.
• Brian Darling looks at conservative politicians who support Congress’ proposed immigration bill at CNSNews.com.
• Brian Darling and Ed Meese weigh in on the amnesty legislation in The Orlando Sentinel.
• Brian Darling and Ed Meese weigh in on the amnesty legislation in National Review.
• Heritage data from 2004 shows that 50 percent of illegal workers do not have high school diplomas and consume more in benefits than they pay in taxes, reports FOXNews.com.
• Congress’ proposed immigration legislation is the most expensive bill the U.S. taxpayer has ever seen, Robert Rector tells TownHall.com.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions quotes a Heritage study saying that amnesty would represent a $2.3 trillion net loss to the United States
• While about half of U.S. oil comes from this hemisphere, for the first time in our history we now import more oil from Africa than the Middle East, Peter Brookes writes in The Boston Herald.
• Heritage supports increased border security, The Anniston Star reports.
• During their lifetimes, illegal immigrants will likely receive $2.5 trillion more in government services than they will pay in taxes, Robert Rector tells WorldNetDaily.com.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions cites Robert Rector’s research on the cost of Congress’ proposed amnesty bill in The Washington Times.
• HumanEvents.com reports on Robert Rector’s press conference on the cost of Congress’ immigration reform package.
• Most people in this country who unlawfully get a job do so through document fraud, James Carafano tells The New York Times.
• Congress’ proposed immigration bill would cost taxpayers as much as it would to buy each of the immigrant households an automobile each and every year for their lives,” Robert Rector tells The Washington Post.
• The Washington Post discusses Heritage’s stance on Congress’ proposed immigration bill.

May 21, 2007

• Congress’ new immigration bill grants amnesty, Matthew Spalding writes in National Review.
• The Fresno Bee cites a Heritage study finding that the majority of U.S. soldiers are from rural areas.
• National Review Online cites Robert Rector on the effects of the immigration bill.
• Using the right phrasing regarding the Iraq war is important, James Carafano tells The Saint Petersburg Times.
• A Human Events column cites Robert Rector on the costs of the immigration reform.
• Democrats have taken up a lot of frivolous bills to make it look like they're delivering on their campaign promise to work hard and long, Mike Franc tells Detroit News.
• James Swanson’s bestselling Manhunt, a vivid account of Lincoln’s assassination and the twelve-day search for John Wilkes Booth that followed, is discussed in The New Yorker.
• Abstinence critics are passively trying to abolish abstinence education by not renewing the Title V funding, Christine Kim tells the Baptist Press.
• A Tacoma, WA News Tribune editorial cites a Heritage report on wasteful rural electric co-ops.
• Agriculture supports included in the emergency war supplemental bill being considered by Congress do not benefit small family farms or cash-strapped farmers, but rather big agribusinesses, Brian Riedl tells the Baton Rouge Advocate.
• The Politico calls ideas promulgated by Heritage’s Robert Rector a “cornerstone” of conservative immigration reform
• Ed Feulner discusses the controversial “Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act” in The Washington Times.
• Households headed by immigrants without high school diplomas, both legal and illegal, cost taxpayers $3 in public services for every $1 in taxes contributed, Robert Rector tells The Los Angeles Times.
• Ten scientific studies compiled by the Heritage Foundation have shown that “real abstinence programs can be highly effective in reducing early sexual activity,” The Chicago Tribune reports.
• Allowing chain immigration is not the way to run an immigration system, Robert Rector tells the Associated Press.
• Congress’ compromise immigration legislation is a sellout of conservative principles, Heritage tells The Washington Post in a front-page article.
• Robert Bluey deconstructs a White House fact sheet on the immigration bill at redstate.com.
• Kennedy duped Republicans on the new immigration bill, Robert Bluey writes on townhall.com.
• Once Congress’ immigration bill is signed, its language appears to create a “cease and desist” order on law enforcement, Heritage experts tell National Review Online.

May 18, 2007

• American plans to install missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic offers a chance for Eastern Europe to make its presence felt and further strengthen its U.S. ties, Sally McNamara tells European Report.
• Washington Times editor Wesley Pruden’s 2002 Heritage lecture is cited in The Times.
• Liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman blames The Heritage Foundation for the Bush administration’s problems.
• Washington has all but given up on trying to do anything useful about high gas prices, Ben Lieberman writes in The Chicago Sun-Times.
• A Heritage study finding that for every dollar that low-skilled workers pay in taxes they get three dollars in benefits is cited at humanevents.com.
• Heritage’s research suggesting that the new immigration law will bring in millions more illegal immigrants is cited in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• Heritage’s discussion of the politics of the new immigration bill is cited in the American Spectator online.
• Brian Darling writes on National Review Onlinethat the immigration deal represents a GOP “sell-out” of conservative ideas
• Pat Fagan’s report about the effects of religion on a host of social indicators is cited in Gary Bauer’s column at humanevents.com.
• Cybercast News Service reports on Robert Kaufman’s lecture at the Heritage Foundation.
• The treatment of opposition supporters after a European Union-Russia summit situation was “foolish and made things worse for Putin,” Yevgeny Volk tells Bloomberg.
• Zimbabwe is the least desirable country to chair a body that has anything to do with economic development, Peter Brookes tells Reuters.
• Foreign Policy interviews Sally McNamara about James Gordon Brown.