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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