Update July 18th: Passed by the Senate by a wide margin, see report here at Blue Ridge Forum (including link to how they voted).
Urgent, July 14th: Read the latest on this issue at America’s Survival, Inc. here. Today is the best day to express your opinion to your Senators.
Your tax dollars:
Interesting that this information should come on the heels of our Africa post yesterday. Hat tip: Richard at Blue Ridge Forum. In answer to a commenter yesterday, we do send enormous aid to countries around the world to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, but $50 billion over 5 years is way beyond anything I even imagined.
S.2731 goes to the Senate floor on Monday and is expected to be signed into law by September because it is supported by the Bush Administration (well, maybe its a tad bit more than the Bush proposal of $30 billion, but what’s $20 billion here or there).
Here is the kicker (if $50 billion of our tax dollars wasn’t already) from the Congressional Budget Office:
….enacting S. 2731 would increase direct spending [no kidding]. The bill would allow immigrants with HIV/AIDS to enter the United States. CBO estimates that providing certain benefits to those immigrants and their children would increase direct spending by less than $500,000 in 2010 and by $83 million over the 2010-2018 period.
Refugees are already coming here with HIV (and TB for that matter) despite the ban on foreigners with the disease from traveling or immigrating to the US. This bill would allow all immigrants to enter the US with HIV and be treated at taxpayer expense. I don’t think it takes a genius to see how this opens the door wide to more immigrants (including illegal immigrants) who will rush the gates and become dependent on our already overburdened health care system.
Read the entire CBO report here.