Social Security

Cannon has been an unabashed supporter of legal immigration, and he doesn't care much for those who call him a liar and distort his record, which he insists has always been against amnesty and for tougher enforcement directed at those who flout immigration laws.

But he also has a soft spot for legal immigrants and the plight of illegal immigrants who are exploited and victimized. With family roots reaching into Colombia and Mexico, and his own experiences as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Guatemala, Cannon said he has witnessed the trials of immigrants his entire life and seen the problems associated with illegal immigration.

And he sees immigrants as a key to American economic vitality.

"Thank God for (legal) immigrants," Cannon said earlier this week at the unveiling of a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy, which showed that an increase in legal immigration could solve much of the Social Security shortfall problems in the years ahead because an influx of new, younger workers would be contributing.

And reducing legal immigration, as immigration opponents have advocated, would increase the deficit in the Social Security trust fund and harm the fund's ability to pay future retirees, Cannon said.

According to the study by Stuart Anderson, executive director of the organization, a moratorium on immigration would increase the size of the Social Security deficit by almost one-third, or $506 billion, over the next 50 years.

A 41 percent reduction in legal immigration, which was proposed in Congress in 1996, would have increased the deficit by 13 percent, or $212 billion over 50 years.

A 33 percent increase in legal immigration would increase revenues to Social Security by $169 billion and increase the value of the trust fund by $101 billion over 50 years.

'Come-and-go economy'

The study, conducted at the request of Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, is certain to add more fuel to the fire raging over immigration. Cannon's support for the foundation's study again puts him at the center of the debate.

"Cannon would've been right at home in the antebellum South, where it was well-known, of course, that slaves were a necessity, since picking cotton is a menial job white people won't do," Nelson said.

Nelson predicted the new version of Cannon's agricultural jobs bill will meet an inglorious demise, despite its endorsement by editorial pages across the country and a bipartisan chorus in the House and Senate.