Mandatory Provision of Social Security Account Numbers and Notification of Mismatches and Multiple Uses

There are countless flaws in Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill. One of these directly impacting the 19th Congressional District, and all American taxpayers, are the provisions in this legislation that fail to adequately verify U.S. citizenship for federal benefits and would potentially provide health care to millions of illegal immigrants. According to analysis from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the number of illegal immigrants covered under Speaker Pelosi’s health care takeover (H.R. 3962) has increased by 2.5 million from their original bill, H.R. 3200.

Any federal benefits that illegal immigrants may receive will be 100 percent funded by our tax dollars. The American people should not be forced to finance benefits for illegal immigrants. This morning I joined with Joe Wilson, Sam Johnson and several of my Republican colleagues in the House for a press conference on the shortcomings in Speaker Pelosi’s health care takeover, and how we can best address these particular issues.

In an effort to prevent chronic identity theft and abuse of taxpayer dollars, I have submitted an amendment to Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill that would require anyone participating in the health insurance exchange to have his or her social security number verified. The Social Security Administration will be responsible for monitoring and notifying the Department of Homeland Security if there are social security mismatches.

The process put into place by this amendment would take steps to curb the number of those who have entered this country illegally, using stolen social security numbers, from illegally obtaining federal benefits.