Congressman
Elton Gallegly
Serving the 24th District of California

http://www.house.gov/gallegly/media/media2007/media2007.htm

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 30, 2007

 Contact: Tom Pfeifer
(202) 225-5811

Gallegly Introduces Bill to Prevent Social Security Raids

WASHINGTON, DC—Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties) on Monday introduced a bill that would protect the Social Security fund from being raided by foreign nationals while protecting those who legally work in the United States.

The United States has 20 Totalization Agreements with other countries to coordinate the payment of Social Security taxes and benefits for workers who divide their careers between two countries. These agreements foster international trade, protect workers’ benefits, prevent multinational companies from paying dual Social Security taxes on the same wages and enhance diplomatic relations.

Gallegly’s bill, the Total Overhaul of Totalization Agreements Law (TOTAL), would require that new Totalization Agreements prohibit Social Security payments to foreign nationals unless they, like American citizens, legally work for 40 quarters in the U.S.

Furthermore, Social Security taxes paid by foreign nationals and their employers would be transferred to their home countries. Similarly, the taxes paid by American citizens in foreign countries would be transferred into the U.S. Social Security system.

Foreign workers will still receive retirement credit for the taxes they pay—which is only fair—but the U.S. taxpayer will not be forced to subsidize another country’s social security system.

Until now, the United States has had agreements with countries that have similar economies and benefits for retired workers. A Totalization Agreement with Mexico, as the Administration has planned, would ruin the U.S. Social Security Trust Fund. In essence, U.S. taxpayers would be underwriting the retirement benefits for millions of Mexican nationals who have paid little into the Social Security Trust Fund.

“It’s important to understand that our Social Security system is progressive. It provides more benefits, as a percentage of earnings, to lower paid workers,” Gallegly said.

Most Mexican nationals in the United States, including many of those working here legally, work low-wage jobs. Add to that the fact that the Mexican economy and the U.S. economy are not similar. As a result, under a Totalization Agreement with Mexico, American taxpayers would subsidize Social Security benefits for both these workers and their dependents, many of whom are illegally employed in the United States and could collect benefits on illegal labor if their status is adjusted in the future.

Gallegly’s TOTAL bill is in addition to the six bills on illegal immigration he introduced on the first day of the 100th Congress (January 4), the Fairness in Higher Education Act he introduced on January 11 and the Identification Integrity Act he introduced on January 12.

The Fairness in Higher Education Act would withhold federal funding to those state schools and private colleges that provide in-state tuition or other financial aid to illegal immigrants. Providing such a benefit to illegal immigrants is grossly unfair to a legal high school student who is born and raised in California, moves out for a year, then returns to attend college. That student pays about $17,000 a year more than a student who is in this country illegally.

The Identification Integrity Act would prohibit the federal government from accepting any foreign-issued documents, except for passports, as valid identification for official purposes—including entering federal buildings or boarding a commercial aircraft. Gallegly introduced similar bills in 2003 and 2005.

The bills Gallegly introduced on January 4 would:

• impose a mandatory minimum sentence on a deportable alien who fails to depart or fails to attend a removal proceeding;
• impose a criminal penalty on an alien who fails voluntarily to depart the United States after securing permission to do so, or who unlawfully returns to the United States after voluntarily departing;
• limit automatic citizenship at birth;
• deny visas and admission to aliens who have been unlawfully present in the United States for more than 6 months;
• require the Commissioner of Social Security to notify individuals and appropriate authorities when evidence arises that individual Social Security account numbers are being misused; and,
• direct the Commissioner of Social Security to notify the Department of Homeland Security, employers and employees when names and Social Security numbers don’t match and take appropriate actions.