Earlier Today, House Appropriators Rejected E-Verify Amendments; Reps. Price, Obey, and Wasserman-Schultz Spoke Against These Provisions
Earlier this morning, the House Appropriations Committee met to write the annual Homeland Security spending bill and the annual bill that funds Congress for the coming year. At the "mark-up," the Committee rejected two E-Verify related amendments to the Homeland Security bill and another related to the Legislative Branch spending bill. E-Verify is an electronically operated system that ensures American jobs go to American workers by allowing employers to quickly check the work authorization status of their new hires.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) — a true immigration reformer — offered an amendment to the Homeland Security bill to extend E-Verify. While that bill already contains a short, two-year reauthorization of E-Verify, Congressman Calvert knows the true value of the program and sought a longer extension of E-Verify. After Calvert spoke in support of his amendment, Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. David Price (D-NC), spoke against the amendment. Rep. Price urged the entire Committee to vote against the amendment. Then, the Committee Chairman, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), spoke against the amendment, as well. Obey argued that the Homeland Security spending bill shouldn't contain an E-Verify authorization at all!
Immediately following the rejection of the Calvert Amendment, another true immigration reformer — Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA) — offered an amendment to the Homeland Security bill to require companies who contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use E-Verify. This common sense amendment would have ensured that contractors who do business with DHS — the same agency tasked with enforcing our immigration laws — do not hire illegal aliens. Congressman Price AGAIN spoke in opposition to the Kingston amendment, erroneously claiming that E-Verify is inaccurate and that the program would be unable to handle the expansion to DHS contractors. Even though Congressman Kingston pointed out that DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano stated last month that the program could indeed handle a large-scale expansion, and that the program has an incredible accuracy rate of 99.6%, the House Appropriations Committee still rejected the amendment!
Later in the morning, Congressman Kingston attempted to attach a similar E-Verify amendment to the Legislative Branch spending bill. This provision would have required contractors who do business with the U.S. Congress to use E-Verify. This time, Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) urged the Committee to reject the Kingston Amendment.
In speaking out against these amendments, Reps. Price, Obey, and Wasserman-Schultz effectively urged their colleagues to not only put the E-Verify program in jeopardy, but also ensure that illegal aliens can continue to work on federal contracts with DHS and the U.S. Congress!
Friday, June 12, 2009
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