Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010 -- (House of Representatives - June 24, 2009)

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Mr. CALVERT. I would like to thank Chairman PRICE and Ranking Member ROGERS for crafting a very thoughtful bill for fiscal year 2010, the Homeland Security Appropriations bill. And I appreciate the recognition of the Air and Marine Operations Center, which is located in my congressional district. AMOC has been foremost in aviation-oriented law enforcement operations and coordinates our operations in the United States. It plays an integral role in protecting us from attack from drug and gun smuggling across our borders.

However, I was disappointed that the extension of E-Verify was reduced from the President's request of 3 years to 2 years. The House overwhelmingly passed a 5-year reauthorization last year, and I think many people would support a permanent reauthorization of E-Verify.

During full committee markup of the bill I offered an amendment but was repeatedly told that a reauthorization of E-Verify would be part of a comprehensive immigration reform bill, which simply makes no sense. A reauthorization of a voluntary program that has existed for 13 years should not be part of an immigration reform debate. Perhaps my friends on the other side of the aisle are confusing reauthorization with mandatory participation in E-Verify, which I support, of course.

However, the thousands of businesses that use E-Verify to comply with existing Federal law and the two States that have made it mandatory deserve assurance that the program will continue to be available.

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Furthermore, I would like to clear up some misconceptions about the E-Verify program, which seem to be endlessly repeated.

E-Verify is 99.6 accurate. That's right, only .4 percent of tentative non-confirmations are an error in the data. E-Verify is free to employers. It does not cost anything other than the minutes it takes to sign up for the program to use the system.

My friends on the other side of the aisle repeatedly state that 10 percent of naturalized citizens receive a tentative non-confirmation. I would like to deliver some good news: That statistic is now down to 6.1 percent. So that means 93.9 percent of naturalized citizens are immediately cleared to work. Of the 6.1 percent that received the tentative non-confirmation, they only need to call a toll-free number to rectify their information.

Other than my disagreement with the length of the reauthorization, I was also disappointed that an amendment I offered in the Rules Committee was ruled out of order. My amendment would have allowed Members to vote on whether the executive order requiring Federal contractors to use E-Verify should not be delayed again. The executive order has been delayed three times for dubious reasons.

Secretary Napolitano has signaled her support for E-Verify, and the people running E-Verify have declared they are ready with the Federal contractor requirement. When it comes to doing business with the Federal Government, which is funded by the American taxpayer, the use of E-Verify should be mandatory.

In closing, I would like to reiterate my support for the bill, but with strong reservations about the majority's actions that has severely restricted amendments and has shut down a once open process.

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