Speech #960280122

I have been a longstanding supporter of efforts to eliminate excessive Government regulation and will continue to support all appropriate efforts in that regard. However. this amendment affects an area which is of vital importance to this country and which is definitely not in the category of "excessive governmental regulation." In fact. it involves an area where there is a demonstrated need for greater governmental involvement to protect the legitimate economic interests of the United States. The area which I refer to is the flood of illegal aliens who are taking millions of jobs from American citizens. The Farm Labor Contractors Registration Act is the only piece of Federal legilation which contains a prohibition against the recruitment. employment. or utilization of illegal aliens. Although it applies to a very narrow segment of the labor force. it has been effective in preserving jobs for Americans. With a small force of people. the Department of Labor has uncovered thousands of illegal aliens and has assessed civil money penalties which probably discourage the hiring of thousands of additional aliens. At a time when the U.S. economy is sinking further into a recession and unemployment is rising rapidly. I do not believe that it is a wise policy to remove more employers from the scope of this provision. Instead. the responsible action to be taken at this time would be to increase the scope of this prohibition against the hiring of illegal aliens. Several months ago when the unemployment rate was around 6 percent. Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall. who has worked as a labor economist for 25 years. said that if aliens were removed from the job market. unemployment could be reduced to 3.7 percent.