John Cornyn: “The problem is this, Mr. President: Under the current bill, about 80 percent of the $2,000 paid by undocumented…”

“The problem is this, Mr. President: Under the current bill, about 80 percent of the $2,000 paid by undocumented immigrants at the time they apply for a green card or legal permanent residency, 80 percent of that $2,000 fee goes for border security. Ten percent of it goes to administering the process provided for under the underlying bill and another 10 percent for other uncovered administrative costs. In other words, there is an 80-20 split of the $2,000 that are paid by undocumented immigrants at the time they regularize their status, in contrast with the Clinton amendment--the Senator from New York provides essentially an 80, 10, and 10 split, with 80 percent of the money going for border security, 10 percent going to a State impact fund, and 5 percent each for the administrative costs. In other words, rather than an 80-20 distribution, the Senator from New York sets aside 10 percent for the State impact fund, and then retains an additional 10 percent to pay for the administrative costs. The difference between the Cornyn amendment and the Clinton amendment is this: The Clinton amendment takes money away from the program that administers this immigration reform bill in order to pay the State and local taxpayers under the impact fund.…”