Speech #1010080503

And that mission is to broadly inform employers of their new obligations under the law and workers of their right to pursue these new discrimination claims. For the past 2 years. the Justice Department has requested funding for public education in this area. but we have never seen fit to provide it. So the Office of Special Counsel and the Immigration and Naturalization have commendably pieced together a patchwork program of public education out of the few resources they could muster. This neglect to provide the needed funding is beginning to show. The General Accounting Office presented Congress last November with the results of its study of employer compliance with the new law. GAO found widespread ignorance or misunderstanding. For example. one of every six employers in GAOs survey indicated that since passage of the 1986 act they had begun either requiring only foreignlooking persons for work authorization documents or hiring U.S. citizens onlyactions which violate the 1986 act. And other reports. such as from the New York State InterAgency Task Force on Immigration Affairs. confirm the GAO finding. Mr. President. our amendment sought to offer the Office of Special Counsel with $3 million to conduct the public education campaign that is needed to avert this discrimination.