Speech #1100192714

Chairwoman Lofgren. for all of your help in bringing the Employment Verification Amendment Act. H.R. 6633. to the floor today. This legislation is the result of a lot of hard work from Members on both sides of the aisle. and I appreciate the fact that Members have joined together to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Securitys Basic Pilot Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program. also known as EVerify. I particularly appreciate that this legislation calls for investigations into various aspects of EVerify and ensures that we safeguard Social Security. EVerify was one of three employee verification pilot programs created in 1997. and it has remained a voluntary program at the Federal level for 11 years with actually very few employers enrolled. However. recent actions at the State and the Federal levels are increasing demand on EVerify and the Social Security system that it relies on. In the last 2 years. over a dozen States have passed employee verification laws. and some. like my home State of Arizona. have mandated EVerify for all employers and imposed severe sanctions against those who do not comply. The administration is also increasingly requiring EVerifys use. On June 6. 2008. President Bush signed an amendment to an executive order requiring more than 200.000 Federal contractors to use EVerify. EVerify relies on the Social Security Administrations data and systems to verify the citizenship and Social Security numbers of all newly hired individuals for their eligibility to work. According to the GAO. 100 percent of EVerify queries are first checked against the Social Security database. The need to reauthorize the EVerify this year presented us with an important opportunity to focus on key components of our Nations immigration crisis. that is. the need for an effective Federal employee work authorization system. I have been very clear that the current EVerify system needs to be replaced or reformed. We need to create a mandatory Federal system that is both reliable and effective. Americans from across the country all agree that our farms. our factories. and other businesses should not abet the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States by providing them a place to work. Yet the Federal Government has failed on many accounts to enforce existing immigration laws. That forces local and State governments to do the Federal Governments work. Employment verification is vital to solving our immigration crisis. and that Is why we are here today. Right now. the only options for States is EVerify. It is still. though. a voluntary pilot program with some obvious flaws. As I have testified to three House committees. we can do better. But while this debate continues. EVerify will expire this November. That is why I have introduced the Employee Verification Amendment Act to extend EVerify. but only for 5 years. By reauthorizing EVerify for 5 years instead of the 10. we can move to a Federal mandatory system more quickly. Within 5 years or less. the Federal Government must develop a mandatory system that operates uniformly across all 50 States. This is critical to fixing our broken immigration system. Developing the best mandatory system possible requires us to understand the pitfalls in the current EVerify system. and that is why this bill includes some studies into how EVerify impacts small businesses and accurately confirms workers eligibility. Congress has to learn from the experience of employers and employees in States like Arizona. We are on the front lines of this immigration debate. Lessons learned from Arizona will help us develop a mandatory program that can identify undocumented workers in an efficient manner without fostering identity theft or violating workers rights of United States citizens. This bill also requires DHS to provide timely and appropriate payments to Social Security. In order for EVerify or any employee verification system to work. the Social Security database and system has to have the funding that it needs to handle the increased demand created by a verification system. The Social Security protections in this bill will keep EVerify operational. They will also prevent interference with Social Security services to seniors. people with disabilities. and also to survivors. The AARP and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare sent letters to the Ways and Means Committee reflecting these concerns.