Goode News for August 11, 2004

FOR RELEASE: August 11, 2004

About two dozen House members and I have written President Bush, urging that the United States withdraw from the Social Security Totalization Agreement that was signed on June 29th by U. S. Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart and her counterpart in Mexico. A totalization agreement coordinates the payment of Social Security taxes and benefits for workers who divide their careers between two countries. Non-citizens who work in Social Security-covered employment must pay Social Security payroll taxes, including those who are in the U.S. working temporarily and those who may be working illegally in the U.S. The Social Security Act does not explicitly prohibit illegal aliens from receiving Social Security benefits. However, the 1996 immigration reform legislation prohibits the payment of Social Security benefits to illegal aliens in the U.S., unless non-payment would be contrary to a totalization agreement or the alien non-payment provision of the Social Security Act.

In a hearing before the House Immigration Subcommittee last September, the General Accounting Office (GAO) said that the estimated cost to the U. S. Treasury of the Totalization Agreement was as much as 25 percent more than the actual number. In addition, journalist Joel Mobray testified that the agreement could cost America as much as $345 billion over 20 years. The Committee also heard how Social Security benefits, and especially disability benefits, could be gotten fraudulently by Mexican citizens who had worked in the U. S.

Although the Social Security Administration (SSA) estimated in the fall of 2003 that the cost of the agreement with Mexico would be $78 million, growing to $650 million in 2050, the GAO pointed out that those figures do "not directly consider the estimated millions of current and former unauthorized workers and family members from Mexico" who are already living in the United States. The SSA has never addressed those concerns, and it used the same figures when the agreement was signed in June.

In addition, our letter to the President points out that the SSA has not taken into consideration that the agreement creates an incentive for even more illegal immigration from the one nation that already sends the most illegals to the U. S. There are between eight million and 12 million illegals in our country, and more than two-thirds are from Mexico. The President is urged to consider that not only millions of Mexican workers, but also their dependents and survivors would gain Social Security eligibility.

Official forecasts show that the Social Security Trust Fund is expected to begin running a deficit in only 14 years and be out of money
by 2042. Today, 47 million American seniors and disabled persons rely on Social Security. Adding millions more beneficiaries, many of whom would be rewarded for breaking the law, will only hasten the day of reckoning for Social Security.

Please keep in touch with me on issues that are important to you. You may write Congressman Virgil Goode, 70 East Court Street, Room 215, Rocky Mount, VA 24151; or fax to 1-540-484-1459; or call toll-free to the Danville office, 1-800-535-4008.