Social Security totalization with Mexico
Social Security Totalization Agreement With Mexico Still Pending | Print | E-mail
TSCL Fights Loophole That Allows Social Security For Illegal Work
Despite widespread concerns, the Social Security totalization agreement signed with Mexico in 2004 is still pending. If allowed to go into effect, Mexican immigrants, including those who worked in this country illegally, would become eligible for "totalized" Social Security benefits based on illegal earnings.
Grassroots efforts by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) and our supporters are raising concerns among Members of Congress about the cost of the agreement to Social Security, and the potential of benefit cuts for retirees who earned their benefits legally.
The Social Security Act requires the President to submit the text of the agreement, a report that includes the estimated number of individuals who would be affected, and the estimated financial impact of the agreement on Social Security to Congress. Although President Bush has not yet sent the agreement to Congress, in 2003, prior to the agreement being signed, the Social Security Chief Actuary estimated that it would have a "negligible" long-range cost that would average about $110 million per year over the first five years. The Government Accountability Office, however, called that estimate into question saying, "the cost of such an agreement is highly uncertain, because the SSA failed to account for the large number of current and unauthorized immigrants from Mexico."
In December of 2006, TSCL obtained the first known public copy of the agreement from the Social Security Administration after being forced to file two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. The package of documents released to TSCL, however, did not include copies of the Social Security Administration's cost estimates.
TSCL is continuing to fight the agreement. Once the President sends it to Congress, lawmakers will have only 60 days to block the agreement from taking effect. TSCL supports the "No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act" (H.R. 736) introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (CA). The bill would close a loop-hole in the current law by prohibiting the use of work credits based on illegal work from being used to determine entitlement for Social Security benefits for immigrants.
Sources: Status of Totalization Agreements, Social Security Administration, December 6, 2007. Question for the Record Submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by Congressman Culberson, House Appropriations Committee, released under the Freedom of Information Act to The Senior Citizens League, December 22, 2006. "Proposed Totalization Agreement With Mexico Presents Unique Challenges," GAO, September 2003, GAO-03-993.
TSCL Fights Loophole That Allows Social Security For Illegal Work
Despite widespread concerns, the Social Security totalization agreement signed with Mexico in 2004 is still pending. If allowed to go into effect, Mexican immigrants, including those who worked in this country illegally, would become eligible for "totalized" Social Security benefits based on illegal earnings.
Grassroots efforts by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) and our supporters are raising concerns among Members of Congress about the cost of the agreement to Social Security, and the potential of benefit cuts for retirees who earned their benefits legally.
The Social Security Act requires the President to submit the text of the agreement, a report that includes the estimated number of individuals who would be affected, and the estimated financial impact of the agreement on Social Security to Congress. Although President Bush has not yet sent the agreement to Congress, in 2003, prior to the agreement being signed, the Social Security Chief Actuary estimated that it would have a "negligible" long-range cost that would average about $110 million per year over the first five years. The Government Accountability Office, however, called that estimate into question saying, "the cost of such an agreement is highly uncertain, because the SSA failed to account for the large number of current and unauthorized immigrants from Mexico."
In December of 2006, TSCL obtained the first known public copy of the agreement from the Social Security Administration after being forced to file two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. The package of documents released to TSCL, however, did not include copies of the Social Security Administration's cost estimates.
TSCL is continuing to fight the agreement. Once the President sends it to Congress, lawmakers will have only 60 days to block the agreement from taking effect. TSCL supports the "No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act" (H.R. 736) introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (CA). The bill would close a loop-hole in the current law by prohibiting the use of work credits based on illegal work from being used to determine entitlement for Social Security benefits for immigrants.
Sources: Status of Totalization Agreements, Social Security Administration, December 6, 2007. Question for the Record Submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by Congressman Culberson, House Appropriations Committee, released under the Freedom of Information Act to The Senior Citizens League, December 22, 2006. "Proposed Totalization Agreement With Mexico Presents Unique Challenges," GAO, September 2003, GAO-03-993.
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