Higher education redistributing taxpayer dollars to illegal aliens
By Eduardo Neret – May 19, 2020
As millions of Americans struggle with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of Colorado colleges and universities are providing aid to illegal immigrants and international students.
The Trump administration previously issued guidance barring these students from receiving funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to a report in the Denver Post, the institutions are providing aid to illegal immigrants from other sources.
Colorado State University spent $600,000 to provide $1,500 grants to 400 students. Of these students, 218 were illegal immigrants. The remaining students were those who otherwise did not qualify for CARES Act aid, such as international students. In a statement to Newsweek, CSU spokesman Mike Hooker said that funding for the grants came from “accessing state, institutional, and private funding sources.”
Metropolitan State University of Denver is raising $300,000 for students who are recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)program. The school claims the money will be disbursed in payments ranging from $250 to $650 based on need.
The University of Colorado has a relief fund specifically for students who do not qualify for federal or state aid as well. A website for the fund states DACA students “will receive preference” for the financial aid, which can reach up to $1,000.
David North, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Campus Reform that while he has “no trouble” giving grant money to legal immigrants, he is “totally opposed” to grant money for illegal immigrant students.
“No one in illegal status should be PAID to stay in this country,” North said. “Though many of these students are decent human beings, there should be no reward system for lawbreakers, with a single exception. An undocumented student in a U.S. college who wants to return to the nation of origin should be given a one-way plane ticket, and maybe $500 (in a check cashable only in the home country and only cashable after 60 days in that country).”
CSU received more than $17 million in federal funding from the CARES Act, more than $8 million of which is allocated for direct student assistance. Similarly, UC received more than $36 million across all of its campuses, with more than $18 million meant directly for students.
MSU received more than $14 million in federal funding, with more than $7 million meant to be allocated to students.
School received nearly $40 million in federal bailout
By Arik Schneider – May 8, 2020
After the recent Department of Education guidelines clarified that federal funds through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act should not be distributed by colleges to illegal immigrants, the University of Washington announced plans to give money to illegal immigrant students through other “non-federal” means.
Students who were ineligible to receive federal grants due to their immigration status were invited by UW to apply for separate funding.
Students were told approval would be automatic if they had already submitted their Washington Application for State Financial Aid (WAFSA). One study estimated the total number of illegal immigrant students in Washington State at 13,000.
WAFSA is a Washington program for illegal immigrants, who are largely ineligible for federal funding. It is unknown how much money will be distributed through the program. UW received $39.7 million in federal CARES Act funding.
“While the U.S. Department of Education does not allow CARES funding to provide grants to undocumented students,” UW said on its website, “the UW will provide grants to undocumented students who meet the same criteria for eligibility and greatest financial need as those students receiving a UW CARES Act Relief grant. These grants are funded by non-federal sources. The grant amounts are $1,200 per student and $1,700 for students with dependents.”
“We are so grateful for your commitment to your degree programs and the empathy and compassion you have demonstrated, even as you face uncertainty about your own futures,” President Ana Mari Cauce wrote in a school email to students eligible for the CARES Act grants. “We are doing everything within our means to support you as you pursue your degrees.”
But not all are on board with giving money to illegal immigrant students. UW student Esther Grang told Campus Reform, “It feels like UW is following the letter of the law, but not the spirit,” adding “I don’t particularly care that the university is sending out checks, but if they could do it for one group of students, why not everyone?”
The move by UW comes as leftist groups have been critical of the Trump administration for issuing guidance saying the funds cannot be distributed to illegal immigrant students.
The aid money for UW illegals is not technically federal funding, but as Heritage Foundation senior adviser for executive branch relations Mike Howell previously toldCampus Reform, “it’s all fungible money, so every dollar that goes to an illegal alien is a dollar that a US citizen is not getting.”
When asked to provide details on where the funding came from, UW simply responded, “non-federal sources.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Mondayreleaseda fact sheet explaining how he will fund his “major” multitrillion-dollar campaign proposals — the Green New Deal, free college, housing for all, etc. — and revealed that he will pay for them through a combination of cutting military spending, creating new taxes, and enacting penalties on the fossil fuel industry in the form of lawsuits.
While Sanders has released a suite of lofty plans with the promise to improve the lives of middle class and low income Americans, critics have repeatedly asked the socialist senator to explain how his administration will pay for his grandiose proposals.
His campaign released a fact sheet on Monday listing each of his “major plans” and providing a line on how he will make it a reality.
His $16.3 trillion Green New Deal plan, perhaps one of his most prolific proposals, will be paid for, he claims, through a variety of methods including slashes in military spending and lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry.
He is calling to reduce defense spending by $1.215 trillion “by scaling back military operations on protecting the global oil supply.” His campaign claims he will raise $3.085 trillion by “making the fossil fuel industry pay for their pollution, through litigation, fees, and taxes, and eliminating federal fossil fuel subsidies.” He expects to garner another $6.4 trillion “from the wholesale of energy produced by the regional Power Marketing Administrations.”
“This revenue will be collected from 2023-2035, and after 2035 electricity will be virtually free, aside from operations and maintenance costs,” his website states.
Sanders also claims his Green New Deal plan will create 20 million jobs, which will effectively create a new tax base and eliminate the need for $1.31 trillion in “federal and state safety net spending due to the creation of millions of good-paying, unionized jobs.”
His campaign actually argues that enacting his multitrillion-dollar climate change proposal will save the United States $2.9 trillion in the next decade, $21 trillion over the next 30 years, and $70.4 trillion over the next 80 years.
“If we do not act, the U.S. will lose $34.5 trillion by the end of the century in economic productivity,” he claims.
That is far from Sanders’ only proposal. Offering free college and cancelation of student debt will cost, according to his estimates, $2.2 trillion. Sanders claims the plan is “fully paid” for with a “modest tax on Wall Street speculation,” contending that it will raise more than enough — $2.4 million over the next decade.
Sanders says his $1.5 trillion housing for all plan and $1.5 trillion universal child care/pre-K plan will be paid for with “a wealth tax on the top one-tenth of one percent – those who have a net worth of at least $32 million.” He claims it will raise “a total of $4.35 trillion.”
His other plans rely almost entirely on new taxes on the wealthy. His vow to erase $81 billion past-due medical debt will be “fully paid for by establishing an income inequality tax on large corporations that pay CEOs at least 50 times more than average workers.”Additionally, Social Security expansion will be paid for, he says, with a tax on Americans with incomes over $250,000.
Instead of explicitly stating how Sanders will fund his Medicare for All plan, which some experts say could cost over $60 trillion over the next decade, the fact sheet simply touts a “menu of financing options that would more than pay for the Medicare for All legislation he has introduced,” which includes raising taxes on the middle class.
Per the fact sheet, those options include:
Creating a 4 percent income-based premium paid by employees, exempting the first $29,000 in income for a family of four.
Imposing a 7.5 percent income-based premium paid by employers, exempting the first $1 million in payroll to protect small businesses.
Eliminating health tax expenditures, which would no longer be needed under Medicare for All.
Raising the top marginal income tax rate to 52% on income over $10 million.
Replacing the cap on the state and local tax deduction with an overall dollar cap of $50,000 for a married couple on all itemized deductions.
Taxing capital gains at the same rates as income from wages and cracking down on gaming through derivatives, like-kind exchanges, and the zero tax rate on capital gains passed on through bequests.
Enacting the For the 99.8% Act, which returns the estate tax exemption to the 2009 level of $3.5 million, closes egregious loopholes, and increases rates progressively including by adding a top tax rate of 77% on estate values in excess of $1 billion.
Enacting corporate tax reform including restoring the top federal corporate income tax rate to 35 percent.
Using $350 billion of the amount raised from the tax on extreme wealth to help finance Medicare for All.
The release of the fact sheet follows Sanders growing frustration over the mounting questions over the costs of his massive proposals.
Anderson Cooper grilled Sanders on the costs of his various proposals during the presidential hopeful’s recent sit-down interview with 60 Minutes.
“But you say you don’t know what the total price is, but you know how it’s going to be paid for. How do you know it’s going to be paid for if you don’t know how much the price is?” Cooper asked.
“I can’t rattle off to you every nickel and every dime,” Sanders said. “But we have accounted for — you talked about Medicare for All — we have options out there that will pay for it.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic socialist from Vermont who is now the frontrunner for the 2020 presidential nomination, released a new plan Monday to give away $1.5 trillion in taxpayer cash.
Under the plan, Sanders plans to provide universal child care and pre-K, spending $1.5 trillion over a decade for the “free” program. All Americans would guaranteed child care through age 3 followed by free pre-kindergarten education.
“As president, we will guarantee free, universal childcare and pre-kindergarten to every child in America to help level the playing field, create new and good jobs, and enable parents to more easily balance the demands of work and home,” Sanders said in a statement.
Sanders says he would fund the program through his “tax on extreme wealth” over $32 million. His campaign claims that tax would bring in some $4.3 trillion over 10 years.
The socialist has a slew of “free” programs that cost trillions. He supports a single-payer “Medicare for All” system, wants to cancel all student debt and make public college free, and raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. And Sanders advocates providing free breakfast, lunch and dinner to all students, regardless of income level.
“Exact cost projections on all of Sanders’ proposals aren’t available, in part because he hasn’t fully fleshed out some of the ideas he’s embraced (such as universal pre-K and child care),”CNN reported in January.
But a wide variety of estimates put the likely cost of the single-payer health care plan he has endorsed around $30 trillion or more over the next decade. Depending on the estimates used, including projections from his own campaign, the other elements of the Sanders agenda — ranging from his “Green New Deal” to the cancellation of all student debt to a guaranteed federal jobs program that has received almost no scrutiny — could cost about as much, or even more than, the single-payer plan. That would potentially bring his 10-year total for new spending to around $60 trillion, or more. …
“I think if the price tag for the Sanders agenda was [better] known … voters would blanch — even Democratic primary voters would blanch,” said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist Democratic group. “The truth of the matter is in primary elections both in 2016 and so far in this one, he’s allowed to skate. He gets graded on a curve. But if he were the nominee, the curve is over. The Republicans will spend a billion dollars picking apart every one of his plans.” …
The sheer size of Sanders’ spending agenda dwarfs the proposed tax increases he has offered to pay for it, economists across the ideological spectrum agree. Brian Riedl, a former Senate Republican budget aide who’s now a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, has calculated that at most Sanders’ existing proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy, Wall Street and corporations would raise about $23 trillion over the next decade.
“There is nowhere near enough resources that you can credibly collect to pay for spending of this size [from the rich],” agrees MacGuineas. “When you are talking about a doubling in the size of the government, you are talking about significant tax increases on the middle class.”
In addition, Sanders supports a plan offered by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez she has dubbed the “Green New Deal.” The cost for that program: $93 trillion.
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