RIGHT SPEAK: Sen Jeff Sessions: Senate Immigration Bill delivers a Severe Economic Blow

The following is an op-ed by Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL):

The U.S. Senate is on the verge of delivering a crushing economic blow to you and your family.

The wages of working Americans have been falling since 1999. But the immigration bill hurtling to a vote in the Senate would add 30 million mostly lower-skill legal immigrants over the next decade — tripling the current legal immigration rate. It would also double the number of guest workers.

The result is devastating. According to the Congressional Budget Office, "The average wage would be lower than under current law over the first dozen years," while unemployment would be higher.

Your tax burden would rise as well. Today's low-income illegal immigrants would be given immediate amnesty under the Senate's immigration plan. When this happens, they would become instantly eligible for state and local benefits, in addition to generous federal tax credits. Later on, they would eventually become eligible for all federal assistance programs.

Claims of deficit reduction from the bill's proponents are based on a Washington accounting trick: using Social Security and Medicare payroll contributions from newly legalized workers to fund increased spending elsewhere. But, eventually, all this money — and much more — would have to be used to pay for the benefits that these legalized immigrants would draw during retirement.