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 Post subject: Action Alert: US House adds E-verify to Stimulus Bill
PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 3:43 pm 
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You may not be aware of it, but thanks to Alice M's generosity, we have hundreds of flyers that educate the public about E-verify. (We can mail you copies to distribute.)

IFIRE members attended most of Congressman Visclosky's townhall meetings in NW Indiana in January. Despite blizzards and below zero temperatures, the meetings were well-attended. A half dozen IFIRE members passed out E-verify flyers to hundreds of voters in attendance at those meetings. Rest assured that Congressman Visclosky, who is on the House Appropriations Committee list below, was well-aware that the E-verify program must be extended and made mandatory in order to protect our jobs.

You can thank Congressman Visclosky (and any other Congressman) by calling the Capitol Hill Switchboard's toll free number and asking for his office:
1-866-220-0044

Action Alert from FAIR:

House Committee Adopts Critical E-Verify Amendments
Call Committee Members to Say Thanks!


On Wednesday night, friends sitting on the House Appropriations Committee successfully offered two critical amendments to the Stimulus Bill (entitled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill) designed to ensure that jobs created by the stimulus package will go to legal workers. This is more important than ever as 1.9 million American workers have lost their jobs in just the last four months of 2008. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 9, 2009). At a time when Congress is considering spending nearly $1 trillion on a stimulus package to create jobs, it is important that those jobs go to Americans who need jobs.

First, Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA) offered an amendment that would reauthorize E-Verify for four years. The language of this amendment is identical to H.R.6633, the bill that passed the House last July by a vote of 407-2. (Calvert Press Release, January 21, 2009).

Then, later in the evening, Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) offered an amendment that requires all businesses that receive stimulus money under the bill to use E-Verify to help ensure that their workforce is legal. (Kingston Press Release, January 21, 2009).


Both Congressmen Calvert and Kingston have been long-time supporters of E-Verify, the electronic system that allows employers to verify that they are hiring legal workers by matching identification documents against databases managed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The program, formally know as the Basic Pilot Program, was established in 1996 by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and has become an effective tool for ensuring a legal workforce, protecting wages, and fighting illegal immigration.

Homeland Security reports that over 100,000 businesses now use E-Verify with an average of 1,000 employers signing up every week.

Unfortunately, E-Verify will expire March 6th unless Congress acts. Yesterday's efforts by Congressmen Calvert and Kingston represent the first step to getting E-Verify reauthorized and holding employers who receive taxpayer money accountable for hiring legal workers. Please review the following list and call those committee members from your state to thank them for supporting these two critical amendments! If none of the members of this list are from your state, please feel free to select a handful of members from neighboring states to call and thank. We need to let these members know that we strongly support E-Verify reauthorization and are watching how the House handles this issue.

Members of the House Appropriations Committee

REPUBLICANS
Robert B. Aderholt (AL-4) 202-225-4876
Rodney Alexander (LA-5) 202-225-8490
Jo Bonner (AL-1) 202-225-4931
Ken Calvert (CA-44) 202-225-1986
John R. Carter (TX-31) 202-225-3864
Tom Cole (OK-4) 202-225-6165
Ander Crenshaw (FL-4) 202-225-2501
John Abney Culberson (TX-7) 202-225-2571
Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8) 202-225-4404
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (NJ-11) 202-225-5034
Kay Granger (TX-12) 202-225-5071
Jack Kingston (GA-1) 202-225-5831
Mark Steven Kirk (IL-10) 202-225-4835
Tom Latham (IA-4) 202-225-5476
Steven C. LaTourette (OH-14) 202-225-5731
Jerry Lewis (CA-41) 202-225-5861
Dennis R. Rehberg (MT-1) 202-225-3211
Harold Rogers (KY-5) 202-225-4601
Michael K. Simpson (ID-2) 202-225-5531
Todd Tiahrt (KS-4) 202-225-6216
Zach Wamp (TN-3) 202-225-3271
Frank R. Wolf (VA-10) 202-225-5136
C. W. Young (FL-10) 202-225-5961

DEMOCRATS
Marion Berry (AR-1) 202-225-4076
Sanford D. Bishop (GA-2) 202-225-3631
Allen Boyd (FL-2) 202-225-5235
Albert Benjamin Chandler (KY-6) 202-225-4706
Lincoln Davis (TN-4) 202-225-6831
Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) 202-225-3661
Norman D. Dicks (WA-6) 202-225-5916
Chet Edwards (TX-17) 202-225-6105
Sam Farr (CA-17) 202-225-2861
Chaka Fattah (PA-2) 202-225-4001
Maurice D. Hinchey (NY-22) 202-225-6335
Michael M. Honda (CA-15) 202-225-2631
Steve Israel (NY-2) 202-225-3335
Jesse L. Jackson (IL-2) 202-225-0773
Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) 202-225-4146
Patrick J. Kennedy (RI-1) 202-225-4911
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (MI-13) 202-225-2261
Barbara Lee (CA-9) 202-225-2661
Nita M. Lowey (NY-18) 202-225-6506
Betty McCollum (MN-4) 202-225-6631
Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1) 202-225-4172
James P. Moran (VA-8) 202-225-4376
John P. Murtha (PA-12) 202-225-2065
David R. Obey (WI-7) 202-225-3365
John W. Olver (MA-1) 202-225-5335
Ed Pastor (AZ-4) 202-225-4065
David E. Price (NC-4) 202-225-1784
Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23) 202-225-4511
Steven R. Rothman (NJ-9) 202-225-5061
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) 202-225-1766
C.A. Ruppersberger (MD-2) 202-225-3061
Timothy J. Ryan (OH-17) 202-225-5261
John T. Salazar (CO-3) 202-225-4761
Adam B. Schiff (CA-29) 202-225-4176
Jose E. Serrano (NY-16) 202-225-4361
Peter J. Visclosky (IN-1) 202-225-2461
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) 202-225-7931

In the next week or two, FAIR will be calling on all activists to call members in the Senate to support the same language. Please stay tuned for more information on how you can make a difference!


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