Posted by: robertb in Reid, HR3590, Healthcare, Hagan, Burr on
Nov 19, 2009
Ever since I heard that Senator Reid's Health Care bill had been scored by the Congressional Budget Office and carried a $849 billion price tag, I have been scouring the Internet to find the actual text of the bill. I talked with one of Senator Burr's staff and found out that the bill had been dumped late last night and was available via a hyperlink on Senator Reid's Web site. So, I followed the link off of Reid's home page to download a 2074 page behemoth of legislation.
Initially, I thought that the link on Senator Reid's home page must be wrong because the bill reads "H.R. 3590 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the first-time homebuyers credit in the case of members of the Armed Forces and certain other Federal employees, and for other purposes." What does the first-time homebuyer tax credit or a piece of House legislation have to do with the Senate version of "The Federal Government Takeover of" Health Care bill? Then I read further, and I began to understand that the Senate Health Care legislation is being proposed as an amendment in the nature of a substitute to a completely unrelated bill.
E-Verify- the online government-run program that allows employers to check the work eligibility of their employees- is considered by many immigration reform activists to be the first step to ending illegal immigration in the country. Despite the program's overwhelming popularity (over 100,000 businesses use the program), immigration reformers have struggled against special interest and ethnic groups to see the program permanently authorized by law.
This week, E-Verify supporters scored two victories in the Senate's debate over the DHS Appropriations Bill: Amendment 1371 by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Amendment 1415 by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA).
The Sessions Amendment, which ultimately passed by voice vote, provides for the permanent authorization of the E-Verify program. The amendment would also require all contractors to use the E-Verify program before doing work for the federal government. (NOTE: Senator Kay Hagan voted yes for a procedural motion that would have killed the amendment. Senator Burr voted no on the motion to table.).
The Grassley Amendment, which also passed by voice vote, allows employers to use the E-Verify program to check the work eligibility of existing workers- under current law only new hires are allowed to be checked.
