A First: Senate Bill introduced outlines HOW to fund the Wall

Inhofe, Rounds, Kennedy, Cruz Introduce Bill to Fully Fund Border Wall | U.S. Senator for Oklahoma

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), John Kennedy (R-La.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today introduced the WALL Act, legislation that would fully fund the border wall along the southern border. Their legislation is also the first bill that will fund the wall by identifying specific funding sources.


This legislation will fully fund the President’s $25 billion border wall while providing specific ways to pay for it:

Require a work-authorized Social Security Number(SSN) to claim refundable tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Child Tax Credit:Require a work-authorized Social Security Number

Currently only the child needs a SSN, not the parent benefiting from the refundable child tax credit. The WALL Act would require the parent to have a valid work-eligible social security number.

Before 2003, the Social Security Agency did not distinguish between work-eligible and non-work eligible SSNs. Therefore, there are individuals benefiting from the EITC they are not authorized to receive because they are non-work eligible.

Require welfare applicants (food stamps, TANF, HUD, etc) to verify citizenship:

Currently someone only needs to “declare” citizenship and provide a SSN to receive some of these benefits.
The WALL Act enhances citizenship verification prior to granting benefits using E-verify and require a work-authorized SSN for eligibility.

Increasing the minimum fines on illegal border crossers and establishes minimum penalty for visa overstays.

This legislation is designed to complement the Asylum Abuse Reduction Act that Sen. Inhofe introduced in August, legislation that will address immigration loopholes to improve the integrity of the asylum process. The United States experienced a 234 percent increase in asylum applications from 2014 to 2016, generating a backlog in our immigration courts. That number is expected to increase.

 

Still, nobody else has bothered to state how to pay for the wall. Some plan is better than no plan.

Plus I didn't see the word fraud anywhere in the proposal. One proposal is simply a rule change directed at the IRS. That one alone, based on what I already know about the so called earned income credit(which is no such thing) would save billions.

The other is simply a rule change to require verification of citizenship to collect certain welfare benefits.

But your point is well taken about how to account for and apply the savings to the wall.