Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 09, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 754 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 5006.

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(Mr. HOSTETTLER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HOSTETTLER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Hayworth amendment.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims, I convened a hearing on this issue of totalization with Mexico on September 11, 2003.

As a result of the troubling testimony received at that hearing, I asked the GAO to conduct a study on the possible effects of such an agreement. I wanted to make sure that any totalization agreement with Mexico does not drain tens or hundreds of billions of dollars out of the Social Security trust fund by paying benefits to aliens who are illegally present and working in the United States while at the same time we are fighting to keep the fund solvent to ensure benefits for American workers.

Unfortunately, we know now that the Social Security Administration did not use an accurate actuarial basis for the proposed totalization agreement with Mexico. They did not account for the estimated millions of illegal aliens residing in this country, nor did they account for reported widespread fraud by these illegal workers using Social Security numbers belonging to others and "not for employment" numbers.

The system cannot tolerate the burden of paying out to possibly millions of illegal workers. Protect the Social Security system and vote for the Hayworth amendment.

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