They are always telling us that Social Security is in bad shape,
No wonder when they do things like this.

ILLEGALS granted SS

Carol Legarra has sent you an article from The Washington Times.
Carol Legarra's comments: Oh my God!!
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ILLEGALS GRANTED SOCIAL SECURITY
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social
Security benefits based on past illegal employment ? even if the job was
obtained through forged or stolen documents.

"There was a felony they were committing, and now they can't be
prosecuted. That sounds like amnesty to me," said Sen. John Ensign, the
Nevada Republican who offered the amendment yesterday to strip out those
provisions of the immigration reform bill. "It just boggles the mind how
people could be against this amendment."

The Ensign amendment was defeated on a 50-49 vote.

"We all know that millions of undocumented immigrants pay Social
Security and Medicare taxes for years and sometimes decades while they
work to contribute to our economy," said Sen. John McCain, Arizona
Republican.

"The Ensign amendment would undermine the work of these people by
preventing lawfully present immigrant workers from claiming Social
Security benefits that they earned before they were authorized to work in
our community," he said. "If this amendment were enacted, the nest egg
that these immigrants have worked hard for would be taken from them and
their families."

Mr. Ensign was among 44 Republicans and five Democrats who voted to
block such payouts.

"It makes no sense to reward millions of illegal immigrants for
criminal behavior while our Social Security system is already in crisis,"
said Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican. "Why in the world would
we endorse this criminal activity with federal benefits? The Senate missed
a big opportunity to improve this bill, and I doubt American seniors will
be pleased with the result."

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said it would be unfair to
deny illegals the benefits.

"We should not steal their funds or empty their Social Security
accounts," he said. "That is not fair. It does not reward their hard work
or their financial contributions. It violates the trust that underlies the
Social Security Trust Fund."

Within hours, the vote had become an issue in this fall's elections,
raised by a Republican challenger to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
Democrat.

"Instead of protecting the retirement security of Americans who are
earning an honest living and abiding by the laws of our country, Debbie
Stabenow sided with people who are here illegally and abuse our Social
Security system," Oakland County, Mich., Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in
a press release. "Allowing illegal immigrants to use their illegal work
history as credit towards receiving Social Security benefits shows that
Debbie Stabenow has forgotten who she is supposed to be working for in the
U.S. Senate."

The Senate also yesterday approved an amendment to adopt English as the
nation's official language, while reversing course from the day before on
protections for U.S. workers who will face new competition from unskilled
immigrant labor under the Senate bill. In addition, senators voted last
night to kill an amendment that would have specified that the guest-worker
program will not provide visas that would provide a path to citizenship.

On Wednesday, senators narrowly approved an amendment to require a
foreign worker to have a job lined up in the United States before applying
for a green card. The purpose, supporters say, is to ensure that the job
market isn't flooded with foreign workers. Also, it prevents foreign
workers from coming to the United States only to wind up unemployed and
dependent on public assistance.

But yesterday, the Senate essentially gutted that amendment by allowing
foreign workers to apply for permanent residency without having a job
lined up.

"What that means is that up to 200,000 unskilled workers a year would
become eligible for a green card, regardless of economic conditions,
regardless of whether that worker has been actually employed for four
years, and most importantly, regardless of whether there are unemployed
U.S. workers available to fill those jobs," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican.