WASH DC- NC SENATORS&CONGRESS ON E-VERIFY-PHONE RESULTS

Congress Wavering on E-Verify Reauthorization;
Call Your Representatives Today!

With time running out on the legislative calendar, Congress still remains deadlocked in the push to reauthorize E-Verify. E-Verify is the work authorization verification program that helps ensure our workforce is legal, protects wages, and fights illegal immigration. While the program is widely regarded as being one of the most effective tools to help employers ensure a legal workforce, special interests at work on Capitol Hill are seeking to attach detrimental language to what should be a simple 10-year extension of an existing program.

Not surprisingly, there is plenty of blame to go around on Capitol Hill. In the House of Representatives, members are fighting over attempts to add language to the E-Verify reauthorization bill that would leave the program susceptible to being defunded in future years (and, in particular, under a new administration). In the Senate, FAIR has learned that Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is blocking E-Verify reauthorization legislation from reaching the floor unless Senators agree to add language to "recapture" hundreds of thousands of employment visas dating back to 1992. The would flood the U.S. workplace with wage-suppressing foreign labor.  In both the House and Senate, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is lobbying to have the program reauthorized for only 3-years, giving it another chance in the near future to defund, dismantle, or outright kill the program.

E-Verify is the most important tool available for stopping the employment of illegal aliens. It is considered to be so crucial that voluntary participation in the program has skyrocketed from about 5,000 employers to over 70,000 in a few short years. Plus, more and more states and local governments are requiring businesses in their jurisdictions to use the program to verify the legal work status of their new employees. Even President Bush took steps to increase use of the program by recently signing an Executive Order requiring government contractors to use E-Verify as a condition of doing business with the U.S. government. 

But now, all of this progress is in danger.  Despite the program's effectiveness and popularity, special interests are working hard on Capitol Hill to ensure detrimental language is attached to any attempt to reauthorize E-Verify. And with Congress set to recess in August and for part of September, and a House adjournment date set for September 26th, there are very few legislative days left to save E-Verify. If E-verify is not reauthorized by the time Congress adjourns, it will die at the end of November.
 
FAIR needs your help to tell every Member of Congress that E-Verify must be reauthorized NOW—NO STRINGS ATTACHED!

Please call your Senators and Representatives TODAY and tell them:

• E-Verify is the most effective program available for ensuring our workforce is legal and combating illegal immigration.
• To immediately take all steps necessary to reauthorize E-Verify for at least 10 years-- if not more.
• That they reject any attempts by any members to add special interest language to the reauthorization bill.

Contact Your Representative

When you have called your own representatives, please take an extra step by calling Senate and House Leaders and delivering the same message! 

Leadership Phone Numbers: 

Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV)  (202) 224-2158
Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY)  (202) 224-3135
House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi  (D-CA)  (202) 225-0100
House Minority Leader, John Boehner (R-OH) (202) 225-4000