Important Immigration Provisions Included in House Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill

Important Immigration Provisions Included in House Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill
Consideration of the massive fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education (H.R. 3043) dominated House floor action this week. Indeed, two full days were spent debating eighty-six amendments to the bill (Congress Now). The bill finally passed, 276-140, fourteen votes short of the number needed to override a promised presidential veto. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill because it is $7 billion more than requested by his administration.

Two important immigration provisions passed as part of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. First, during the Committee process, Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) successfully offered an amendment to require that government contractors receiving money through the bill to use the Basic Pilot Program to verify that their employees are lawfully present in the United States. The Chamber of Commerce opposed this language and notified Representatives of their objections, urging members to strike the language from the bill. Nevertheless, there were no amendments to remove the language and it survived the floor action.

In addition to the Kingston language that was added in Committee, the House approved a floor amendment offered by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) relating to Totalization agreements. The amendment bars funding for Social Security payments made under a pending totalization agreement with the Mexican government. A social security totalization agreement is an executive agreement entered into by the United States with another country that is intended to relieve employers and employees from double social security tax with respect to the same employment and to consolidate the employee's Social Security tax paid to both countries in order to receive the combined benefits in only one country. A totalization agreement does not permit an employee to avoid Social Security tax in both countries, but instead merely allows the employee to pay tax to either one country or the other.

In a letter sent to colleagues in support of the amendment, Congressman Gingrey expressed concern that the U.S. government would end up paying out more in benefits through the Social Security Totalization agreement with Mexico than it would take in through taxes. In particular, he explained the Social Security Administration has significantly underestimated the number of claims for Social Security that will be made by Mexicans working in the United States—only 50,000. With 12 to 20 million illegal aliens currently in the U.S. who may become legal at some point, Congressman Gingrey argued this number could easily be surpassed, impairing the ability of the government to break even. In fact, in 2003, the GAO determined that if the number of Mexican workers claiming benefits exceeds that estimate by 25% (for a total of 63,000), the result would be a financially significant drain on the Social Security Trust Fund.



Having passed the House, the Basic Pilot requirement and the Totalization amendment will now be conferenced with the corresponding Senate bill. Stay tuned to FAIR for more details…



see more at Mccainalert.com