Immigration reform would reduce the United States’ deficit by approximately $200 billion and increase real GDP by 3.3% in the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s recently released score of the Senate’s immigration reform bill, S. 744.
In a June 18 White House blog post, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget; Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors; and Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, analyzed the CBO’s report on the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744).
The administration’s three economic gurus note that the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation report says the Senate’s bill would increase real GDP by 3.3% in 2023, and 5.4% in 2033, a real increase of roughly $700 billion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2033, “due to higher labor force participation, increased capital investment, and increased productivity resulting from technological advancements, such as new innovations and improvements in the production process.’”
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday on the Senate floor that the legislation was near a “bipartisan” agreement, “barring something unexpected.”
While some drafting of the legislative language has yet to be completed, Schumer said, lawmakers “are on the verge of a huge breakthrough on border security. With this agreement, we believe we have the makings of a strong, bipartisan final vote in favor of this immigration reform bill.”
CBO estimates that “Fixing our broken immigration system,” will reduce federal deficits by about $200 billion over the next 10 years, and about $700 billion in the second decade, the White House analysts note.