A new immigration dispute
Goode opposes plan for Mexican workers to qualify for benefits
BY PETER HARDIN
TIMES-DISPATCH WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT Feb 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A Virginia Republican and some other foes of President Bush's immigration policy are seizing on a hot issue -- Social Security solvency -- to wield on the immigration front.
5th District Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. of Franklin County last week introduced a resolution telling President Bush not to submit for congressional approval an agreement with Mexico.
The pact "negatively impacts the Social Security system . . . and puts America's seniors at risk," the resolution stated. Goode was backed by 27 co-sponsors.
At a time Bush was talking about shoring up a Social Security system facing problems, Goode and his allies hoped pairing two volatile issues would help gain support in Congress.
The agreement would allow more Mexican workers who have labored in the United States, and their family members, to become eligible for Social Security benefits, and a number of illegal immigrants would be included.
The little-known pact has an unwieldy government name -- a totalization agreement -- and is similar to bilateral accords in place with 20 other nations.
It would coordinate the U.S. and Mexican social-security systems to avoid double taxation of multinational companies and their employees, and to protect benefits of employees who work in both countries.
The Social Security Administration has estimated the agreement would cost Social Security about $105 million per year during the first five years.
But Goode fears a larger, significant drain on Social Security at a time Bush has warned of fiscal jeopardy.
Goode quoted from a Government Accountability Office report from 2003. It labeled the cost of a Mexico agreement "highly uncertain" and questioned the potential impact on Social Security of millions of unauthorized Mexican workers here.
"I submit those who truly want to protect the Social Security Trust Fund need to exclaim a resounding 'No' to the proposed Totalization Agreement with Mexico," Goode said at a news conference.
"Estimates may vary, but I believe [the pact] will cost the Social Security Trust Fund billions, not millions" of dollars, he added.
"A significant new population, perhaps hundreds of thousands or millions, would have access to Social Security under a Mexico totalization agreement," warned Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz. He has sponsored his own resolution for Congress to disapprove a Mexico pact.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. and chairman of the Congressional Immigration Caucus, said Bush was telling citizens the Social Security system was in need of overhaul at the same time he intended to add as many as millions of workers to the rolls.
"On the stump, he's fond of saying he is wanting to present the Congress and the United States with big ideas. Well, some of those big ideas, like this, are pretty dumb," Tancredo said.
A Social Security spokesman had no comment on Goode's bid to kill the pact before Congress gets it. The agreement was signed by the U.S. Social Security commissioner and her Mexican counterpart June 29 and is still at the Social Security Administration, said the spokesman, Mark Lassiter.
Social Security's actuaries believe the agreement would have a negligible long-range effect on the Social Security trust funds, Lassiter said.
"This agreement eliminates a serious and unnecessary impediment to American and Mexican businesses and their employees," Commissioner of Social Security Jo Anne Barnhart said last year.
Some of the attacks on the Mexico pact are coming from people "well known for their opposition to immigration . . . and this may be another tool for them to use," said Deborah W. Meyers, an analyst with the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, a think tank.
But George W. Grayson, a College of William and Mary government professor and authority on Mexico, said the pact could become a lot more expensive than similar agreements with other nations. Advancing it is "wrong-headed," he said.
Grayson, a former Democratic delegate in Virginia, saluted former colleague Goode.
"It's really politically incorrect to question benefits accruing to illegal aliens," Grayson said. "I don't think Virgil will get invited to the White House Cinco de Mayo party this year."
Goode opposes plan for Mexican workers to qualify for benefits
BY PETER HARDIN
TIMES-DISPATCH WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT Feb 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- A Virginia Republican and some other foes of President Bush's immigration policy are seizing on a hot issue -- Social Security solvency -- to wield on the immigration front.
5th District Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. of Franklin County last week introduced a resolution telling President Bush not to submit for congressional approval an agreement with Mexico.
The pact "negatively impacts the Social Security system . . . and puts America's seniors at risk," the resolution stated. Goode was backed by 27 co-sponsors.
At a time Bush was talking about shoring up a Social Security system facing problems, Goode and his allies hoped pairing two volatile issues would help gain support in Congress.
The agreement would allow more Mexican workers who have labored in the United States, and their family members, to become eligible for Social Security benefits, and a number of illegal immigrants would be included.
The little-known pact has an unwieldy government name -- a totalization agreement -- and is similar to bilateral accords in place with 20 other nations.
It would coordinate the U.S. and Mexican social-security systems to avoid double taxation of multinational companies and their employees, and to protect benefits of employees who work in both countries.
The Social Security Administration has estimated the agreement would cost Social Security about $105 million per year during the first five years.
But Goode fears a larger, significant drain on Social Security at a time Bush has warned of fiscal jeopardy.
Goode quoted from a Government Accountability Office report from 2003. It labeled the cost of a Mexico agreement "highly uncertain" and questioned the potential impact on Social Security of millions of unauthorized Mexican workers here.
"I submit those who truly want to protect the Social Security Trust Fund need to exclaim a resounding 'No' to the proposed Totalization Agreement with Mexico," Goode said at a news conference.
"Estimates may vary, but I believe [the pact] will cost the Social Security Trust Fund billions, not millions" of dollars, he added.
"A significant new population, perhaps hundreds of thousands or millions, would have access to Social Security under a Mexico totalization agreement," warned Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz. He has sponsored his own resolution for Congress to disapprove a Mexico pact.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. and chairman of the Congressional Immigration Caucus, said Bush was telling citizens the Social Security system was in need of overhaul at the same time he intended to add as many as millions of workers to the rolls.
"On the stump, he's fond of saying he is wanting to present the Congress and the United States with big ideas. Well, some of those big ideas, like this, are pretty dumb," Tancredo said.
A Social Security spokesman had no comment on Goode's bid to kill the pact before Congress gets it. The agreement was signed by the U.S. Social Security commissioner and her Mexican counterpart June 29 and is still at the Social Security Administration, said the spokesman, Mark Lassiter.
Social Security's actuaries believe the agreement would have a negligible long-range effect on the Social Security trust funds, Lassiter said.
"This agreement eliminates a serious and unnecessary impediment to American and Mexican businesses and their employees," Commissioner of Social Security Jo Anne Barnhart said last year.
Some of the attacks on the Mexico pact are coming from people "well known for their opposition to immigration . . . and this may be another tool for them to use," said Deborah W. Meyers, an analyst with the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, a think tank.
But George W. Grayson, a College of William and Mary government professor and authority on Mexico, said the pact could become a lot more expensive than similar agreements with other nations. Advancing it is "wrong-headed," he said.
Grayson, a former Democratic delegate in Virginia, saluted former colleague Goode.
"It's really politically incorrect to question benefits accruing to illegal aliens," Grayson said. "I don't think Virgil will get invited to the White House Cinco de Mayo party this year."
