John Ensign (R-NV) proposed an amendment that says, essentially, you have to have a valid Social Security number to gain credit toward Social Security benefits. Here is a summation from Ensign's website:
An amendment offered today by Senator John Ensign would prevent Social Security benefits from being awarded for illegal labor in the United States. Under current law, an individual who has entered this country illegally and worked for a number of years can, after obtaining legal status, apply for and receive Social Security benefits relating to the work done while that person was in the country illegally... The Ensign amendment would allow immigrants to accumulate credit to qualify for Social Security only after they have been assigned a valid Social Security Number.
The argument in favor of the measure, I suppose, is that we should not reward illegal behavior and it only serves as an incentive to illegal immigration to extend the promise of generous public benefits to those who come here illegally. The argument against probably has something to do with compassion for the elderly person who spent considerable time in this country illegally. Do we simply hang that person out to dry? Both arguments have their merits, although the former seems to be the better public policy.
Here is the vote on the measure. You'll see that it was defeated (the vote was on whether to table the amendment, so a "yes" vote is a vote against the amendment). John Thune supported Ensign's amendment, while Tim Johnson voted to defeat it.
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