“I am keenly aware that there will be budgetary impacts when illegal immigrants begin to access citizenship beginning 13 years after immigration reform is enacted,” Mr. Rubio wrote. “However, I also believe that immigration reform…will improve the labor market, increase entrepreneurship and create jobs, leading to a net increase in economic growth and reducing the deficit.” …

Mr. Rubio’s letter was peppered with compliments about Heritage’s prior work along with a not-so-subtle reminder that Republicans prefer “dynamic” scoring – which takes into account how legislation changes behavior and could impact the economy – to “static” scoring. …

“As a pro-growth, fiscal conservative, I have long believed that any legislation impacting our economy can only be fully evaluated by a consideration of both its baseline costs and its impact on growth,” Mr. Rubio wrote. “I commend the Heritage Foundation for its long championship of that view as well.” …

“Conservatives have considered static scoring to be an erroneous and incomplete evaluation tool for decades,” Mr. Rubio wrote. “The late Jack Kemp spent his career advocating for dynamic scoring to account for the real-world impact of policy changes on incentives and economic growth.”