Estimate of Immigration Overhaul’s Cost Gets Mixed Reviews on Right

A researcher whose fiscal calculations have provided crucial support in the past for conservative opponents of an immigration overhaul released a report on Monday, predicting that a proposal now in the Senate would vastly increase the government deficit in coming decades. But this year the estimates, by Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, have received decidedly mixed reviews from conservatives.

Mr. Rector and his co-author, Jason Richwine, estimated that offering a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants, which is part of a plan by a bipartisan group of senators to overhaul the immigration system, would generate a “lifetime fiscal deficit” for the government of $6.3 trillion.

An earlier, similarly high calculation by Mr. Rector of the cost of giving legal status to illegal immigrants was a powerful organizing tool in 2007 for opponents of a comprehensive immigration reform bill proposed by then-President George W. Bush. Citing Mr. Rector’s warnings of a huge drain on taxpayer resources, conservative activists rose up to defeat that legislation.

This year, Mr. Rector had somewhat different findings, and they received a very different reception from leading conservatives.

The new study assumes that large numbers of immigrants formerly in the country illegally would eventually use government programs for low-income Americans, after a 13-year period in which they would not be eligible for those benefits under the terms of the bill.

The steepest costs Mr. Rector projects would come toward the end of the immigrants’ lives, after they had become United States citizens and retired. At that point, he estimates, the difference between what they would pay in taxes and what they would use in government services would leave a fiscal deficit of $22,700 a year for each immigrant.

“You simply do not want to give illegal immigrants access to the welfare state,” Mr. Rector said during a conference call with reporters. Doing so, he said, would be “ruinously expensive.”

Hours after Mr. Rector presented his findings at a news conference at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Haley Barbour, a Republican leader and former governor of Mississippi, convened his own press call to dismiss the study.

“This a political document,” Mr. Barbour said. “This gigantic cost figure that the Heritage Foundation puts out is actually the cost over 50 years. If you put the 50-year cost of anything in front of the public, it is going to be a huge number.”

Mr. Barbour, who is among a growing number of Republican leaders who have urged the party to take a less hard-line approach to immigration, criticized Mr. Rector for failing to estimate the economic benefits of bringing immigrants into the legal system, and for underestimating the potential for economic improvement over time among immigrant families.

Grover Norquist, the conservative anti-tax crusader, has also spoken out in recent days to pre-emptively dispute Mr. Rector’s claims. An analysis posted Monday on the Web site of his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, called the cost estimate “wildly overblown,” arguing that the study had, among other things, lumped native-born Americans into many of its calculations.

Surprisingly, some of Mr. Rector’s findings echoed what the senators sponsoring the immigration bill have said about its fiscal impact over the 13 years before formerly illegal immigrants would be allowed to become American citizens. He estimated that “tax payments would increase more than government benefits” during that period, reducing the deficit.

Obama’s Latest Senate Outreach: Monday Golf Date

Washington was overcast, and rain threatened on Monday. But President Obama nonetheless figured it was a good day for golf, inviting three senators to complete his foursome rather than the usual staff aides.

In the latest bit of outreach to Congress to press for his troubled domestic agenda, Mr. Obama invited two Republicans, Senators Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Bob Corker of Tennessee, and one Democrat, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, to golf with him at Joint Base Andrews.

All three are the sort who are willing to work with colleagues of the other party on bipartisan legislation - just the kind Mr. Obama is hoping to build into a super-majority of the Democrat-led Senate, at least 60 votes - to pass his second-term priorities like budget, immigration and guns measures. With Senate passage of such legislation, the strategy holds, the House, and its Republican majority, would be under pressure to compromise in turn.

Mr. Chambliss, for example, has worked with Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, toward a bipartisan deficit-reduction package that would both cut spending and raise tax revenues. And from his days in the House, Mr. Chambliss remains a close confidant - and golf companion - of Speaker John A. Boehner.

Seal Your iPhone in a Vault

The ProGear Vault iPhone 5 case from Pelican.

Pelican has made a name for itself as a maker of protective gear for industrial and military equipment. Last year, it enlisted outdoor adventurers to endorse ProGear, a new line of products aimed at everyday consumers.

Recently, Pelican expanded the ProGear line to include two cases for the iPhone 5, the Vault and the Protector.

The Vault is indeed a sturdy case; my iPhone would not feel more secure if it were locked in an actual vault. But it takes a bit of effort to attain that level of protection.

For starters, you have to seal your phone into the case with four tiny, stainless steel hex screws. Fortunately, Pelican includes a tiny hex wrench for the task. If I had tiny hands, I’d be set â€" but I have large, clumsy hands, so it took some time fumbling with the screws before I could close the case.

Once a phone is sealed inside, Pelican claims that the Vault’s elastomeric copolymer rubber provides impact protection from a drop of as much as 72 inches. The case’s design defends against wind-driven snow, rain and dust. A durable screen cover protects from scratches but does not interfere with the iPhone’s touch-sensitive technology. And the case is guaranteed for life.

All that security comes with a tradeoff: the phone is slightly heavier and a little harder to use. The case weighs nearly 3 ounces, and it covers all the buttons and ports. The ports are accessible by way of water-resistant caps, and the case incorporates an aircraft-grade aluminum dial and several buttons to control the iPhone’s functions. They worked well enough, but after a few days, my thumbs grew weary.

At $80, the Vault provides top-notch protection for outdoor enthusiasts. For iPhone owners not planning to scale the Alps, the $40 Protector case offers excellent protection but with less hassle. Cases for the iPad and Samsung Galaxy S phone are forthcoming.

The Early Word: Out of Luck

Today’s Times

• While Congress granted sequestration reprieves to certain federal programs, some are struggling and others appear to be out of luck, Jonathan Weisman reports.

• In the first of three commencement addresses he will deliver this year, President Obama told graduates at Ohio State University to ignore antigovernment arguments that “gum up the works,” and said he was optimistic about young people’s opportunities, Jackie Calmes reports.

• Republican senators are likely to be interested in the reputation of Penny Pritzker, the commerce secretary nominee, as her family was innovative in the use of offshore trusts and foreign bank secrecy laws to shelter their wealth from income, capital gains and inheritance taxes, Charlie Savage writes.

Happenings in Washington

• Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will meet with members of the faith community in the White House to discuss gun safety.