Yesterday, the Heritage Foundation released a report showing that the amnesty portion of the Schumer-Rubio immigration bill would cost current American taxpayers $6.3 trillion over the next 50 years.* Knowing a price tag that big could choke off any significant Republican support for the legislation, a slew of pro-amnesty Republicans (the Center for American Progress has a full list here) quickly denounced the study.
You can read some of the pro-amnesty critiques of the Heritage study here, and Heritage’s response here. But first consider a statement that pretty much all conservatives and libertarians can agree with: “It is one thing to have free immigration to jobs. It is another thing to have free immigration to welfare. And you cannot have both.” – Milton Friedman. This is a common sentiment running not just through the Heritage report, but also the responses from pro-amnesty Republicans. Consider:
