In a showdown between military veterans (including disabled vets) and illegal aliens, the United States Senate sided with illegal aliens.
The budget bill now being considered by the Senate includes some painful cuts in government spending. Among those being asked to endure some pain are our military veterans, who will see their pensions trimmed by some $6 billion over the next ten years. Among those not being asked to endure the pain of fiscal austerity are illegal aliens who reap huge rewards from the federal government under the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC).
According to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, about 2.3 million “individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States” collected $4.2 billion from the ACTC program in 2010. In fact, 72 percent of people filing tax returns using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) claimed the child tax credit. A significant chunk of this money paid to illegal aliens from the Federal Treasury was doled out on behalf of kids who do not even live in the U.S., or may be entirely fictitious.
Nevertheless, when Sen. Jeff Session (R-Ala.) tried to offer an amendment that would have restored pension benefits to military veterans by eliminating ACTC benefits to tax filers who lack valid Social Security numbers, it was blocked by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), as he has done in the past. By a 54-46 vote, the Senate prevented amendment from being offered claiming that doing so could upset a delicate House-Senate agreement worked out by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).