Pop Quiz: What Cuts the Deficit and Mobilizes the Base?-HuffPo

[pampango]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-sharry/pop-quiz-what-cuts-the-de_b_527436.html

"Give up? We thought so. The answer? Immigration reform. That’s right. Too many in the political class are looking in the rear-view mirror when it comes to immigration reform. Despite a number of election cycles in which old presumptions were proven wrong, some still believe comprehensive immigration reform mobilizes the right, saps independent support, and makes Latino voters shrug.

So here’s a political mind-bender for you purveyors of outdated conventional wisdom: Immigration reform divides the right, wins over the center, and mobilizes Latino voters. Oh yeah, and it will cut the deficit.

Like all political conversations these days, let’s start with talk of the tea parties. Without a doubt, they have the political class captivated. We immigrant advocates learned this lesson the hard way. On March 21, over 200,000 people gathered on the National Mall in D.C. to call for comprehensive immigration reform--the largest rally of the Obama era. But the media barely noticed. They were focused on a couple hundred (tea party) protesters at the Capitol. Apparently, a few angry people screaming and spitting is more newsworthy than nearly a quarter of a million members representing the fastest-growing group of new voters in the country.

But doesn’t immigration reform backfire with non-Hispanic swing voters? No. In fact, it’s much more popular than the chattering class tends to believe. Polls consistently show that at least two thirds of voters support reform with a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the U.S. without legal status--and support cuts across party lines. Polls confirming this come out regularly. In California, where there are competitive races for Governor and Senate, a recent Los Angeles Times/USC poll found two-thirds of voters support some version of comprehensive reform, despite the current economic woes in the state. Meanwhile, the two Republican candidates for Governor are pushing each other further right – and further away from majority opinion in the state – with each passing day of their primary race.

Now, for the icing on the cake? Immigration reform is one of the few pieces of legislation that actually decreases the federal deficit. Recent economic analyses show that immigration reform would add $1.5 trillion to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) over 10 years. Pursuing a hard-line immigration agenda, on the other hand, would mean a whopping $2.5 trillion loss to our GDP over ten years. That adds up to a swing of $4.1 trillion.