Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the position taken by the chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), in opposition to an amendment offered by my longtime friend and respected seatmate of 10 years, who I disagree with on his amendment, in a respectful way. Let me ask, I think, three important questions. One, why are we having this vote, which is essentially putting the cart before the horse? Why are we singling out Mexico, our next-door neighbor, number 2 trading partner, and friend? And, three, why is there an effort to essentially vent our frustration over illegal immigration on a potential agreement with our friend, Mexico? That is why I think it is important for us to be very careful on this amendment, because we have Social Security totalization agreements with 7 out of 10 of our biggest trading partners. Mexico is our second largest trading partner. We have thousands of American workers working in Mexico who right now are in a situation where they are forced to pay two sets of Social Security taxes. A totalization agreement would be of great benefit to American workers working in Mexico, as well as their American employers who may be employing them. In fact, they say they could save up to $140 million in additional taxes that workers and American companies would suffer unless we have a totalization agreement.”