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The White House
For Immediate Release

MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: United States Treasurer Rosa Gumataotao Rios on the Economic Case for Commonsense Immigration Reform

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, June 8, 2013

MESSAGE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: United States Treasurer Rosa Gumataotao Rios on the Economic Case for Commonsense Immigration Reform

In this week’s message, Rosa Gumataotao Rios, the Treasurer of the United States spoke about National Small Business Week and Treasury Secretary Lew’s visit to a local business in Maryland to highlight how immigrants play a critical role in our nation’s economy. Treasurer Rios also discussed the CBO report released earlier this week which determined that the immigration reform bill before the Senate would reduce the deficit by about $200 billion over the next 10 years, and close to $700 billion in the following decade. CBO’s analysis provides further support that commonsense immigration reform is good for our economy and will help strengthen the middle class.

The audio of the address and video of the message is available online HERE.

Remarks by Rosa Gumataotao Rios

Message from the White House

June 22, 2013

Hello everyone, my name is Rosa Gumataotao Ríos and I am the Treasurer of the United States.

To highlight National Small Business Week, Treasury Secretary Lew toured a local business in Maryland on Monday.

Secretary Lew visited M. Luis Construction’s asphalt manufacturing facility, to emphasize the critical role of immigrant entrepreneurs in making American’s economy the largest, strongest and most innovative in the world.

The Luis family story is the quintessential American story. The company was founded with little more than a wheelbarrow and pickup truck and today, that same company employs over 200 people and generates $60 million in annual revenues.

Immigrant families like Luis’ have always been a vital component of our success as a nation.

More than 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or a child of immigrants.

In the year 2011 alone, immigrants started 28% of all new businesses in the US.

As a country, we pride ourselves as a nation of immigrants, drawing talent from all over the world. The Luis family story is just one example of why we need commonsense immigration reform so that we continue to attract citizens from around the globe who help our economy grow.

On Tuesday, the Administration received even more proof that bipartisan immigration reform is good for our economy.

The independent Congressional Budget Office released their analysis of the Senate’s bipartisan immigration bill and found that fixing our broken immigration system would reduce the deficit by about $200 billion over the next 10 years, and close to $700 billion in the following decade.

That’s why Republicans and Democrats, CEOs and labor leaders, are saying that now is the time to pass commonsense immigration reform.

Getting reform done now, once and for all, means that we can grow the economy, strengthen the middle class, reduce the deficit and create new opportunities for Americans everywhere.

Thank you very much, and have a nice weekend.

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