Posted on 12/19/2002 12:20:12 PM PST by hoosierskypilot
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is considering an agreement with Mexico that would add thousands of Mexicans working legally in the United States to the Social Security system, making them eligible for millions of dollars in benefits.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Well, yes, I do have a comment.
My comment is that I wonder why you chose to print ONLY the first paragraph and not the rest of the article. I have a good guess.
"This is an issue that is being explored on a technical level," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Thursday. "No decisions have been made."
Such an agreement would not be unusual. The United States already has 20 existing pacts with other countries, ranging from Canada to South Korea. The Social Security Administration pays 94,022 beneficiaries from other countries an average of $162 a month, for a total of $184 million a year.
An agreement with Mexico could add 162,000 beneficiaries in the first five years, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the story in Thursday's editions, citing an anonymous House Republican aide. The total cost could be as much as $1 billion a year.
Jim Courtney, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, said the agency had no estimates on cost or how many people would be affected.
"There aren't numbers yet because our actuaries continue to do the research," he said. "There are no preliminary numbers. The numbers are a work in progress."
But concern is growing on Capitol Hill that any agreement with Mexico would add a huge burden to the Social Security system, which already is facing big shortfalls in the next 15 to 20 years.
"We are concerned about the sheer magnitude
TBLShow didn't post the article. I did. I posted only the first paragraph because it says the prez is considering this action. Besides, it's not all that difficult to click on the link to view the entire article, now is it?
Granted, there is a pre-existing agreement with other nationalities, but prez is going to do this on his own, if, in fact, he does it.
I'm not against limited immigration. But at the present, any move to neutralize the issue is a mistake. This proposal is a move in the wrong direction.
ACCESSION NUMBER:238199
FILE ID:PF-551
DATE:08/07/92
1ITLE:HOUSE POW/MIA UNIT SEEKS FULL STORY ON ALLEGED SOVIET SPY (08/07/92)
TEXT:*92080751.PFS
*PFS551 08/07/92 *
HOUSE POW/MIA UNIT SEEKS FULL STORY ON ALLEGED SOVIET SPY
(Article based on press release, research on 8/7) (380)
By Jim Shevis
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- A recently formed congressional task force on America's missing servicemen is seeking "a full and complete" investigation into the current activities of Joel Barr, an American who defected to the former Soviet Union in the 1940s and recently was allowed to return to the United States.
According to Representative Sam Johnson of Texas, a leader of the newly created Republican Congressional Leadership POW/MIA Task Force in the House of Representatives, Barr turned over U.S. technology to the Soviets that enabled them to develop antiaircraft guns like those used against American pilots during the Vietnam War.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation never completed an investigation into charges that Barr was transmitting U.S. secrets to the Soviets before his defection, Johnson said. The House Task Force wants the Justice Department to complete that inquiry.
"The Cold War may be over, but nothing can justify an American collaborating with the (former) Soviet Union -- working against American citizens and servicemen," said Johnson.
Johnson, who represents the 3rd Texas congressional district in the Dallas area, is a former Air Force pilot who was shot down by a Soviet antiaircraft system and held as a prisoner-of-war (POW) in the then North Vietnam for seven years from 1966-1973.
"Thanks to some no-name bureaucrat, Barr is living in Brooklyn and receiving Social Security at the expense of American taxpayers," Johnson said.
"I'm outraged, and I want to see a full investigation. "This country owes me, my fellow veterans and every American citizen an explanation."
Johnson, along with California Republican Congressmen Randy Cunningham, Robert K. Dornan and Duncan L. Hunter, announced formation of the POW/MIA Task Force in June.
Johnson said then that he hopes the group's efforts will raise the consciousness of Congress and of all Americans on issues involving POWs and MIAs from World War Two, the Cold War and the Korean War, as well as the Vietnam War.
"There are so many questions still unanswered. There's so much room for dishonesty and rumors," Johnson said.
"I believe this government has some of the best intelligence throughout the world, but until every American is accounted for -- every name checked off every list -- all of us can do more."
SS is a disgrace....my husbands elderly uncle married a young chick with kids and because he was over 65 they all got ss checks even the woman....and here I and my husband work like dogs....ruff!
other twist....immigrants come here without "proof" of how old they are....so suddenly, they are all 65 and without evidence to prove contrary, they all get big fat checks too...
but they won't let me or you retire decently on pennies of what we have given...
other beef with SS.....it is fine and dandy if you have an easy desk job with little activity and lots of time off....like teachers .....but what if you work a difficult , emotionally packed, physical job requiring intellect and decision making?.....you mean I have to work that job til 67??????
well....I will get myself on SS dissability before I reach there....lol
Bush, on the other hand, while not acquiescing to Fox, still is giving far too many concessions to immigrants and immigration. He's worried about the political fallout.
Bush shouldn't worry about the political fallout. He's already doomed himself to a single term by calling Muslims a moral people and alienating the religious right, which right put him in office in the first place.
Bush may as well do the right thing while in office and not worry about the repercussions. This is going to be his only term, anyway.
That being said, I'll wait to see what they decide to do -- AFTER I drop a nasty email on the White House server!
You'll have to excuse my snappishness. I thought Todd posted it as yet another bash at Bush, which he's being doing day and night for the last week. I should have looked closer at who posted it.
Sometimes I think he believes he is president of Mexico, not the US.
I suppose this serves to remind us that, regardless of how favorable we may be to a particular candidate, politics, in its purist form, is a business.
And GW is a businessman. A good one, at that.
I suspect that what may happen is that Bush's political base is going to be so discouraged by the prez's performance that, come the next election, they simply won't vote. Much like CA's last governor's election, the dim's win by default.
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