[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E10]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCING THE SOCIAL SECURITY FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS ONLY ACT

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                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 6, 2009

  Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the Social Security for 
American Citizens Only Act. This act forbids the federal government 
from providing Social Security benefits to noncitizens. It also ends 
the practice of totalization. Totalization is where the Social Security 
Administration takes into account the number of years an individual 
worked abroad, and thus was not paying payroll taxes, in determining 
that individual's eligibility for Social Security benefits!
  Hard as it may be to believe, the United States Government already 
provides Social Security benefits to citizens of 17 other countries. 
Under current law, citizens of those countries covered by these 
agreements may have an easier time getting Social Security benefits 
than public school teachers or policemen!
  Obviously, this program provides a threat to the already fragile 
Social Security system, and the threat is looming larger. The prior 
administration actually proposed a totalization agreement that would 
have allowed thousands of foreigners to qualify for U.S. Social 
Security benefits even thought they came to, and worked in, the United 
States illegally. Adding insult to injury, this proposal could have 
allowed the federal government to give Social Security benefits to non-
citizens who worked here for as little as 18 months. Estimates of what 
this totalization proposal would cost top one billion dollars per year.
  Despite a major public outcry against extending Social Security 
benefits to those who entered this country illegally, a version of this 
proposal actually passed the other body in the 109th Congress. That the 
executive branch would propose, and part of the legislative branch 
would endorse, using social security monies to reward to those who have 
willingly and knowingly violated our own immigration laws is an insult 
to the millions of Americans who pay their entire working lives into 
the system and now face the possibility that there may be nothing left 
when it is their turn to retire.
  While the new administration has yet to take a public position on 
totalization, and hopefully will be more reasonable on this issue than 
its predecessor, it is still imperative that Congress act. Even if the 
new administration repudiates all proposals to allow those who entered 
the county illegally to receive social security benefits, the only way 
to guarantee a future administration will not revive this scheme is for 
Congress to put an end to totalization once and for all. I therefore 
call upon my colleagues to stop the use of the Social Security Trust 
Fund as yet another vehicle for foreign aid by cosponsoring the Social 
Security for American Citizens Only Act.




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