The Blog @ Spolitics

Senate Officially Sanctions Identity Theft

by Heywood U. Reedmore -- May 21, 2006 at 2:27 am | In No, Seriously | No Comments

If Republicans are smart, here’s the issue to campaign on for the upcoming election.

As previously noted, the Senate voted to kill an amendment that was introduced in order “to reduce document fraud, prevent identity theft, and preserve the integrity of the Social Security system.”

The bill would have prevented illegal aliens from collecting Social Security benefits on income they earned while NOT authorized to work in the US. In other words, if you steal someone else’s social security number in order to get a job, we’re not going to reward you with federal benefits. To senators like Patrick Leahy from Vermont, this was “unfair.” According to the Washington Times, Leahy argued, “We should not steal their funds or empty their Social Security accounts.”

The problem is, the accounts in question are not theirs. They are using someone else’s social security number – they are STEALING someone else’s identity!

I was curious exactly what happens to the victims of this kind of identity theft. I found a detailed report by Bob Sullivan over at MSNBC from Jan. 2005. (He also blogged about it a couple of months ago here.)

According to Sullivan, the Social Security numbers are shared amongst friends and families, so if your number is stolen, it could be used 30 times over again. Even if the Social Security Administration and IRS know someone is using your number fraudulently, they will NOT alert you. Yet, they will come after you for back taxes you owe for all that money “you” earned.

Here’s one example from Sullivan’s article:

[Linda] Trevino found herself in a financial nightmare. All those imitators made a mess out of her work history, her Social Security benefits records and her credit report. She was haunted by bills and creditors. She received threatening letters from the IRS, asking her to pay taxes on money earned by her imposters. She was told to re-pay unemployment benefits she had received, after the government discovered she was “working” while drawing benefits.

Instead of protecting people like Linda Trevino, the Senate voted to protect the people who stole her identity, ruined her credit and made her life hell. To deny those identity thieves Uncle Sam’s cash giveaways, they reasoned, would be “unfair.” If you haven’t already, take a look at who voted to kill the amendment, amongst them 11 Republicans. If they’re not going to represent us, it’s time we send them home. After all, that’s only “fair.”