For Immediate Release
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Grassley Wins Approval of Amendment to Require Department of Homeland Security Agencies to Use Employer Verification System
WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today said that a modified amendment he offered yesterday was accepted on the Homeland Security Appropriations bill. The amendment requires all agencies in the Department of Homeland Security to use the basic pilot program to check the eligibility of their workers or risk losing funds for the Office of the Secretary and executive management. The basic pilot program, authorized in 1996, is a free tool allowing all employers to electronically verify the work authorization of newly hired workers.
“I said yesterday when I offered the amendment that I was ashamed that the department tasked with protecting our homeland wasn’t using the basic pilot program. I expect they will now begin using the program immediately,” Grassley said. “Technology has become so sophisticated that we need to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the employees we hire are legally in this country.”
In correspondence last January, the Department of Homeland Security told Grassley that more than 400 federal agencies already use the basic pilot program. But, nearly all of those federal offices are part of the legislative branch. At this time only five of the 22 agencies within the department are using the basic pilot program.
Grassley’s amendment originally required contractors within the Department of Homeland Security to use the basic pilot program. That provision was not included in the modified amendment.
The basic pilot program was first authorized in 1996 allowing only six states to participate. The program was reauthorized in 2001 and then expanded in 2003. The last expansion allowed employers in all 50 states the opportunity to voluntarily use the program.
-30-