Senate to consider E-Verify mandate
Amendment would force contractors to use a Homeland Security database to check the immigration status of workers.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Tuesday offered an amendment to the fiscal 2010 Homeland Security appropriations bill that would require contractors to verify the legal status of their workers in order to do business with the federal government.
Sessions' amendment was the first offered to the bill, which the Senate began debating Tuesday morning. The bill would provide the department about $43 billion in discretionary spending, or about 7 percent more than current year spending. Sessions' amendment would require contractors to use the Homeland Security Department's E-Verify system, an online tool that allows employers to check the Social Security number and immigration status of workers.
A federal rule originally proposed by the Bush administration was supposed to go into effect earlier this year that would require contractors to use E-Verify, but the Obama administration has delayed it twice.
The rule is now not scheduled to take effect until Sept. 8. Sessions' amendment also would permanently authorize E-Verify, which expires this fall.
The underlying bill would reauthorize E-Verify for three years.