Lawmakers oppose Mexico deal

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The two hot-button issues that President Bush wants to tackle this year -- Social Security and immigration -- are about to collide.

Two members of Congress will try to block an agreement that the Bush administration signed with Mexico that would allow Mexicans who have worked in the United States, including some illegal immigrants, to receive Social Security payments.

Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., Virginia Republican, will introduce a resolution today calling on the president not to submit the agreement to Congress.

And Rep. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, has prepared another resolution to block the deal, called a totalization agreement, if and when the administration submits it to Congress.

"This is the flash point between border security and Social Security, and it is a major fault line," Mr. Hayworth said.

Although the congressmen are approaching the issue as proponents of immigration reform, they are being joined by a seniors advocacy group that argues the president endangers his plans to reform Social Security by pushing for an agreement that would deepen the financial hole in which the retirement program finds itself.

C. McClain Haddow, chairman of the policy council for the Seniors Coalition, said his organization has collected 387,000 petitions from its members opposing the deal with Mexico.

"It's a double cross that they do not understand, and our members are angry here," he said.

Totalization agreements allow nations to coordinate tax payments into, and benefit payments out of, their public retirement systems.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) signed the agreement in June with the Mexican government, saying it would mean U.S. companies who employ Americans in Mexico or Mexican companies employing Mexicans in the United States would not have to pay retirement-security taxes to both nations.