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By Deborah Tate Washington12 July 2006 The Bush administration - pressing Congress to complete immigration reform legislation, is highlighting the contributions immigrants make to the U.S. economy.
Text(正文):
By Deborah Tate
Washington
12 July 2006
The Bush administration - pressing Congress to complete immigration reform legislation, is highlighting the contributions immigrants make to the U.S. economy.
Carlos Gutierrez testifies on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 12, 2006
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday to discuss the impact immigrants have on the U.S. economy.
There may be no better spokesman on the issue than Gutierrez.
The 53-year-old Commerce Secretary was born in Havana, Cuba, and fled to the United States with his family when he was six. He learned English, became a U.S. citizen, and later studied business administration. He took an entry-level sales job at the cereal manufacturing company Kellogg's, where he rose through the ranks to become Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer before President Bush nominated him to his current post.
Under questioning by committee chairman, Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Gutierrez highlighted the role immigrants play in the growth of the U.S. economy.
"The unemployment rate for undocumented workers is actually below the national average, which suggests that they come for one reason and one reason only, and that is to work," he said. "Approximately - these are estimates - five or six percent of our jobs are carried out by undocumented workers."
"And is their presence here, their contribution to the economy, a net gain that ripples through to the benefit of all the rest of us in this country," asked Specter.
"Absolutely, the owners of the businesses that have access to those workers in turn become consumers, in turn spend money in our economy, they invest in their businesses," replied Gutierrez. "The immigrants become consumers. There is a multiplying effect to our economy, that every estimate I have seen suggests it is positive."
But some in Congress, Republican conservatives in particular, believe illegal immigrants could be taking a toll on the U.S. economy and local social services.
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, says Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to get emergency health care because undocumented workers who do not have insurance that would pay for routine doctor visits are filling hospital emergency rooms.
"Twenty-five percent of my constituents in Texas do not have health insurance, and a large number of those are undocumented immigrants who show up in emergency rooms, and so emergency rooms go on divert status, where true emergencies have to go to wherever they can find the help," noted Cornyn
But Senator Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, cited statistics from the National Research Council that suggest immigrants in general contribute to the tax base that funds services.
"Overall, an immigrant and his family contribute over 80,000 more in taxes over their lifetime than they consume in services," he said. |
