Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I recently reintroduced the Accountability through Electronic Verification Act this Congress, as I have in previous Congresses. This commonsense bill would require all employers to use E-Verify programs, which in turn would ensure that they are employing nothing but a legal workforce.

As most Americans have realized, the immigration debate here in the Congress today--and for a long time--has become highly partisan and obviously has been controversial. Of course, worst of all, it has become completely unproductive.

I believe there is a sliver of hope, however, and that is through the passage of an E-Verify program that makes E-Verify mandatory.

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, whether you are for open borders or you want secure borders, we all ought to agree that enforcing the law and protecting Americans is a bipartisan goal.

In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act made it, for the first time, a Federal crime to employ undocumented workers. Ten years later, in 1996, Congress created a new tool to verify employment eligibility known as E-Verify.

Today, E-Verify is a voluntary program that gives employers a web- based tool to verify the identify and employment eligibility of new employees.

I have worked to renew and expand the program for use in all 50 States and to allow for information-sharing between Federal Agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.

Participating employers then tap into a user-friendly, free electronic system that cross-matches documents provided by employees on their I-9 forms with Federal records available to show the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security. So the records of a worker applying for a job can be compared with government records to know whether somebody is legally in the country.

Today E-Verify provides instant verification for more than 750,000 employers and businesses all across America. In fact, my Senate office uses E-Verify when hiring employees whom the taxpayers pay for, but I am responsible for their employment. My Senate office uses E-Verify when hiring our staff, and I have found it to be quick and easy to use.

At my annual 99 county meetings that I have throughout Iowa, I regularly hear about the growing economy, rising wages, and the vitality on Main Streets. Iowa now ranks first in the Nation for the lowest level of unemployment. That also means there are growing challenges for employers in my State to hire the workforce needed to grow and expand. I will bet a lot of my colleagues hear that in their respective States as well.

We need to make sure hiring practices don't harm U.S. workers or those authorized to work in the United States. That is why I reintroduced the bill I announced in the first words of my speech today, the accountability through electronic verification bill.

This legislation will help businesses comply with immigration laws by certifying the legal status of their workforce. The bill will permanently authorize the E-Verify Program, and require employers to use the program to determine workers' eligibility. It would then make every employer have to use it, except as contrasted for the last couple of decades on a voluntary basis.

For decades, E-Verify has served as a proven tool for employers that want to use it. It has helped to reduce incentives for illegal immigration and safeguard job opportunities for Americans and other legal workers. Expanding the system to every workplace will improve accountability for all businesses and take another very important step toward putting American workers first.

Current law requires all contractors doing work for the Federal Government to use E-Verify, repeating for a third time now the mandatory aspect of this compared to the voluntary aspect of the present law.

States that have passed laws mandating the use of E-Verify also may require employers to participate, for example, as a condition of business licensing. With low unemployment across the country, and with Iowa leading the way, policymakers have a responsibility to ensure the growing economy has the workforce it needs to continue to do the growth of the last few years.

As the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I worked extensively to protect the integrity of employment visas and work permits for foreign workers. A top priority must be to ensure immigration policies aren't displacing American workers or depressing wages.

Making E-Verify a permanent and mandatory requirement for all U.S. employers will bring across-the-board certainty to hiring practices throughout our country. Certifying the legal status for prospective hires makes common sense, and having in place the tools at one's fingertips makes it a simple, convenient solution.

E-Verify is a proven tool to encourage legal immigrants to apply for unfilled jobs and to deter illegal immigration and human trafficking.

In addition to making E-Verify permanent and mandatory within 1 year of enactment, my bill will increase penalties for employers who illegally hire workers unauthorized to work in our country. The bill will also require employers to check the status of all current employees within 1 year using the E-Verify system and terminate employment of those found unauthorized to work in the United States.

This bill establishes a demonstration project in rural areas without internet capabilities to assist small businesses.

Finally, the bill will require the Social Security Administration to improve its efforts to detect identity theft using Social Security numbers.

Expanding E-Verify will help restore integrity and trust in our Nation's immigration system by curbing incentives for hiring persons unauthorized to work in America.

I was pleased to hear my colleague, now-Chairman Graham of the Judiciary Committee, highlight the benefits of E-Verify in a Judiciary Committee hearing held last week. He is right. Nationwide E-Verify would go a long way to relieve concerns about illegal immigration and workforce displacement.

Let me repeat. This bill will not change immigration law. All it does is ensure that businesses are complying with existing Federal law through a quick, cost-efficient, and proven online method of proving that people are legally in the country and legally able to work here.

It is a simple first step toward tackling larger issues within immigration; in other words, bringing credibility to our immigration system where credibility has been lost because for the last 20 or 25 years, we in Congress have been telling the American people we are going to control the border and people can only come here legally, and we haven't done it.

We have to do things to build up credibility if we are going to deal with issues like what do you do about the 10 or 11 million people who are unauthorized to live and unauthorized to work in America.

Some people say: Well, you are going to load them up and get them out of the country, but that isn't realistic, and it wouldn't be humanitarian. To deal with that issue, we have to have credibility for the whole immigration system, and E-Verify will help that, along with everything we are doing to control the borders, and we have to do more to control the borders.

Again, to repeat, this is a simple first step to tackling larger issues within immigration. Best of all, it has the support of the American people.

A recent Zogby poll showed that mandatory E-Verify enjoys widespread support from voters. Seventy-four percent of all voters polled support mandatory E-Verify. In fact, the support is very bipartisan. The poll showed that roughly 55 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of Independents, and nearly 91 percent of Republicans support the idea of E-Verify.

Support for Nationwide E-Verify isn't just nonpartisan, it is supported by Americans across all ethnic boundaries. Fifty-eight percent of Hispanic voters, 52 percent of Black voters, and 74 percent of Asian voters polled all support E-Verify.

I will close with this. Perhaps it is time that Congress and both parties take a very deep breath and listen to the American people instead of to our own echo chambers.

Before we discuss expanding guest worker programs or discuss comprehensive immigration reform, let's first codify E-Verify and restore the American people's trust in our immigration system.

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