Senate Jobs Bill Does Not Require that Employers Hire American Workers

/PRNewswire/ -- A $15 billion package of tax credits and exemptions for employers who create new jobs is expected to gain approval by the Senate this week. However, the bill, intended to help millions of unemployed American workers find jobs, includes no verification mechanism to ensure that newly created jobs will actually be filled by legal U.S. workers. Moreover, it does not prevent employers from claiming tax credits and exemptions if the workers they hire are illegal aliens, charges the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

The legislation, authored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), does not require employers to use the federal E-Verify system to ensure that the workers being hired are legally eligible to work in the United States. Under an executive order issued by President Bush and implemented by President Obama, all federal contractors are already required to use E-Verify and the same requirement could easily have be applied to employers claiming tax credits and exemptions. In 2009, Sen. Reid stripped an E-Verify requirement from the $787 billion stimulus package that had been approved by the House when the bill went before a conference committee.

"It is unconscionable that while some 25 million Americans are unemployed or relegated to part-time work, the Senate is refusing to include protections that would guarantee that newly-created jobs are filled by Americans who desperately need them," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "The failure to include E-Verify protections in the bill is not an oversight on the part of Sen. Reid. He has consistently blocked efforts to prevent employers who receive government contracts or tax benefits from hiring illegal aliens instead of legal U.S. workers."

Under the Senate legislation, employers who fill newly created jobs with illegal aliens or guest workers would be entitled to the same tax credits and exemptions as employers who hire out-of-work Americans. Even if the employer were subsequently prosecuted for employing illegal aliens, the employer could legitimately claim these tax benefits for hiring them.

Because Sen. Reid has barred any amendments from being considered when the bill goes to the Senate floor, it will be virtually impossible for members to add E-Verify protections for American workers. "The excuse being offered for not including E-Verify in the legislation and barring its inclusion in the final language is laughable," Stein said. "Opponents of inclusion of an E-Verify provision claim it is unnecessary because existing laws already bar employers from hiring illegal aliens. This claim ignores the fact that an estimated 8 million illegal aliens already hold jobs in the U.S.

"Unemployed Americans have a right to expect that they will be the beneficiaries of any jobs created as a result of this bill. American taxpayers who will be footing the bill for this and other legislation have a right to expect that their money will help put Americans back to work," Stein continued. "These expectations could be easily fulfilled by requiring the use of E-Verify and barring employers who do not hire legal U.S. workers from receiving tax benefits - something Reid and Senate Democrats are refusing to do."

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If Majority Leader Reid Supports E-Verify Why Does the Senate Block Its Long-Term Reauthorization?

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the second time in as many months, the United States Senate had an opportunity to reauthorize the highly effective E-Verify system and chose not to. By rejecting an amendment to the Omnibus Appropriations bill offered by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to extend E-Verify through 2014, the Senate leadership belied their contention that they support this program that protects U.S. workers from losing jobs to illegal aliens.

E-Verify is a federal program that allows employers to voluntarily determine whether workers are legally authorized to work in the U.S. by electronically verifying their Social Security numbers. According to the Department of Homeland Security, E-Verify has a 99.6 percent accuracy rate.

In a letter to his Nevada constituents, Majority Leader Harry Reid states, "I strongly support programs like E-Verify that are designed to ensure that employers only hire those who are legally authorized to work in the United States, and believe we need to strengthen enforcement against employers who knowingly hire individuals who are not authorized to work." In fact, in 2006 and 2007, Senator Reid supported not only reauthorizing E-Verify, but making it mandatory for all employers nationwide.

But now, Sen. Reid and the Democratic leadership are singing a different tune:

-- In February, Sen. Reid blocked inclusion of amendments to the economic
stimulus bill that would have reauthorized E-Verify for five years,
and required that employers who receive stimulus money use E-Verify to
ensure they hire only legal U.S. workers. These provisions were
included in the House bill.
-- During the House-Senate conference committee finalizing the economic
stimulus package, Sen. Reid, together with Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
stripped the E-Verify provisions from the bill sent to President
Obama.
-- Today, Sen. Reid and the Democratic majority voted down Sen. Sessions'
five year reauthorization of E-Verify.


Because of these actions, the vital protections that E-Verify offers to American workers at a time when unemployment is rising rapidly are on tenuous life support only until September 30. They also confirm that Senate leadership's primary interest in E-Verify is to use it as a bargaining chip in an effort to gain amnesty for illegal aliens.

"If the Senate leadership were truly interested in protecting American jobs from being filled by illegal aliens, E-Verify would have been reauthorized for five years and steps would have been taken to make its use mandatory by all employers," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

"The fact that E-Verify will only receive a six-month reauthorization, and the fact that employers receiving taxpayer stimulus money are not required to verify that workers are legal U.S. residents is not an oversight. It is a deliberate decision of the Senate leaders who place the interests of low wage employers and illegal aliens over the interests of millions of unemployed American workers who desperately need jobs.

"The defeat of the Sessions amendment demonstrates conclusively that the Senate leadership, contrary to what they say, is unwilling to protect the jobs of American workers," Stein concluded.

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