Replies

Social Security

Claim: E-mail lists senators who "voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits."

Status: Partly true.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2006]

THESE ARE THE SENATORS WHO VOTED TO GIVE ILLEGAL ALIENS SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS. REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PARTY, THESE POLITICIANS NEED TO BE DEFEATED IN 2006, 2008 OR 2010 WHENEVER THEY COME UP FOR OFFICE. SEND THIS TO ANYONE YOU KNOW IN ANY OF THE STATES LISTED. THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEED TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION. THAT IS UNLESS THEY DO NOT MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS WHEN AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING LEFT OUT.

Grouped by Home State:

Alabama:
Alaska: Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Arizona: McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Delaware: Biden (D-DE), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Martinez (R-FL), Yea
Georgia:
Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho:
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Obama (D-IL), Yea
Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa: Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:
Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Maine:
Maryland: Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Sarbanes (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA), Yea Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota:
Mississippi:
Missouri:
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Nebraska: Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Nevada: Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire:
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
New York: Clinton (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina:
North Dakota: Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Ohio: DeWine (R-OH), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:
Oregon: Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania: Specter (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island: Chafee (R-RI), Yea Reed (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Tennessee:
Texas:
Utah:
Vermont: Jeffords (I-VT), Yea Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Virginia:
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Rockefeller (D-WV), Not Voting
Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming:

ORGINS: On May 2006, the U.S. Senate, by a 62-36 bipartisan vote, passed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 — a controversial bill which proponents touted as providing comprehensive and humane immigration reform, and which opponents criticized as unfairly rewarding illegal aliens by allowing them to obtain legal status.

On 18 May 2006, while the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act was still under consideration, Senator John Ensign of Nevada proposed an amendment to the bill to "ensure that persons who receive an adjustment of status under [the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act] are not able to receive Social Security benefits as a result of unlawful activity." The crux of Senator Ensign's argument was that immigrants who had entered and worked in the U.S. illegally and paid into the Social Security system using fraudulently-obtained Social Security numbers should not be allowed to receive credit for those payments:

[Illegal immigrants] paid into the system simply because that was the price to pay to get a job in the United States. The immigrant knew they were using an illegal Social Security number but without regards of the impact of the victim. I have reviewed case after case related to identity theft and Social Security fraud. These cases are occurring all over the United States. In every case, in every State, where someone's Social Security number was stolen by an illegal immigrant to use to find work, the victim's credit history is destroyed. Sometimes their work history is too. Earlier I talked about Caleb, a gentleman in Nevada. The illegal immigrant who used Caleb's Social Security number was not trying to harm that person but he did. Caleb applied for unemployment but couldn't get it because the agency said he was working when, in fact, he wasn't. He lives in Reno. They said he was working in Las Vegas. It was an illegal immigrant using his Social Security number in Las Vegas.

I never said this amendment is going to prevent identity theft. What I have said is that it is not right for somebody to steal somebody else's identity — granted for the noble purpose of getting a job — and reward the theft by giving work credit that counts towards Social Security. We should consider the victims who are forced to deal with the terrible consequences of the crime.

The Senate vote on this amendment is what is reproduced in the e-mail quoted in the example block above. Although the message's text accurately reflects the roll call vote that took place, the accuracy of its characterization of those senators who voted "Yea" as voting "to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits" is problematic for a number of reasons:

The subject of the proposed amendment was not about giving (or denying) Social Security benefits to illegal aliens; it was about whether a select group of formerly illegal workers (i.e., those who might obtain legal immigration status if the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 were enacted) should be able to receive credit for payments they made into the Social Security system using phony Social Security numbers (i.e., numbers that were invalid or had been assigned to others). Such persons would still be eligible to collect Social Security benefits in the future; they just wouldn't receive credit for payments they had already made into the system.
The senators named didn't technically vote against Senator Ensign's amendment itself; they voted (by a 50-49 margin) in favor of a Motion to Table (i.e., a motion to permanently kill the pending matter and end any further debate on the subject).
It was the potential passage of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act that created the situation Senator Ensign's amendment sought to prevent in the first place (i.e., allowing formerly illegal workers to receive credit for earlier Social Security payments), so the senators who ultimately voted in favor of the immigration reform act might logically be considered at least as responsible for the outcome as those who voted to table the Ensign amendment.

If all of the above made your eyes glaze over, it boils down to this: While the list of who voted which way is accurate, what was being voted on was a motion to table (that is, stick in a closet in hopes that it will never be seen again) a motion to deny former illegals credit for the Social Security payments they made while in the U.S. illegally.

Last updated: 4 June 2006