Chuck Hagel: “I thank you and appreciate the time from the distinguished chairman of our Judiciary Committee. I rise in opposition to…”

“I thank you and appreciate the time from the distinguished chairman of our Judiciary Committee. I rise in opposition to this budget point of order. I have listened attentively to the points made. Certainly, we are not a model of fiscal discipline in this body, in this Congress, as we have run up the debt in this country year after year. But let's be clear about some of the facts. First, as you have heard from others who have spoken on behalf of this responsible comprehensive immigration reform bill, CBO has scored various dynamics of this. No matter what we do--and more importantly, unfortunately, we have not done much, but no matter what we do, it is going to cost some money. It is going to cost money to reinforce our borders and to do the things that all Members of Congress have felt strongly about--enhancing the security of our border--and what the President has talked about. But let's go a little deeper into these numbers. The CBO numbers have estimated that this bill will increase total revenues by about $66 billion over a 10-year period. But even deeper than that, what happens when people go to work? What happens when people invest in communities? What happens when there is a multiplier effect in communities? What happens is that there are more tax revenues. There is more employment. There are more opportunities. There is better education, a higher standard of living, more consumer spending. That is what happens.…”