Illegal immigrants may get tax rebates

Yet another instance of governmental stupidity reacting to a "crisis" (in this instance, the economy)

Lou Dobbs alert: Illegal immigrants may get rebates

In their bipartisan zeal to quickly cut a deal on an economic stimulus bill, GOP lawmakers overlooked something that will certainly inflame the conservative base _ illegal immigrants could receive a tax rebate check from the government.

The text of the House passed bill contains language making "non resident aliens" _ illegal immigrants _ ineligible for the tax rebates. But every year, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants use individual taxpayer identification numbers, known as ITINs, to file income tax returns with the IRS. These ID numbers are used instead of Social Security numbers.

And now for the punch line:

According to a Senate GOP aide, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) will try to offer a "fix" to the bill in the Finance Committee markup of the legislation today. Republican aides are also worried that under certain definitions in the House bill, a resident alien who spent at least 183 days drawing income in the United States but was deported - and still filed a tax return - could have a rebate check sent to their home country. Ensign will try to prevent this with an amendment to the bill, according to a GOP aide.

It gets worse:

The $146 billion stimulus package intended to jolt the economy by giving taxpayers rebates up to $1,200 includes cash returns for illegal immigrants who pay taxes.

Under the plan passed by the House, illegal immigrants who qualify as "resident aliens" and earned a minimum of $3,000 would be eligible for rebates of between $300-$600, FOX News has learned.

Where to start?

First of all, tax rebates means we are all overtaxed.
2. No amount of tax rebate is going to stimulate the economy IF there is no cut in government spending.

But that aside,
What the hey is the GOP thinking, to go along with this kind of garbage anyway?

Why should workers (citizens working here and overseas, legal residents, and documented foreign workers) who are complying with the law subsidize those who are not?

UPDATE
25 Republicans opposed the package. Here's Rep. John Campbell

Rep. Campbell will be on Lou Dobbs tonight.



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