CBO Report Troubles Push for Senate Immigration Bill: In a setback for the President and a Senate coalition attempting to convince a skeptical public that the present "grand compromise" immigration bill, which in addition to including some language for border security and workplace enforcement could legalize over 12 million individuals presently here illegally, would actually "solve" the problems of illegal immigration, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report yesterday saying that the bill as presently amended would decrease the "net annual flow of illegal immigrants" by only 25%. Furthermore, the CBO asserted that certain parts of the bill--such as the guest worker program--would actually increase the number of illegal workers in this country (for example, individual guest workers may overstay their visas). Some observers think that the CBO report will strengthen the hand of those Senators wishing for more time to debate this bill.
(H/T: Stephen Dinan's story in today's Washington Times.)