The Senate Votes Against E-Verify System

            It was bad enough that Congress did not require firms receiving stimulus money to use the E-Verify system, which enables employers to check the legal status of their employees by accessing federal data bases. As a consequence of that move, says recearcher Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, as many as 15 percent of stimulus jobs will go to illegal aliens.

But even worse was the recent 50 to 47 vote in the Senate to let E-Verify end in six months, rather than extend it five years as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) proposed. At a time when 11 million American are out of work, one would think that all of our senators would fully endorse E-Verify, now used voluntarily by a large and growing number of businesses which seek to comply with law against hiring illegal aliens.

Unfortunately, too many senators—and House members too—are in the thrall of lobbies such as the Chamber of Commerce and the National Council of La Raza (The Race), which view illegal immigration as a source of monetary or political gain.

The word from AIC sources in Washington is that threatening E-Verify with termination is part of a strategy hatched by amnesty advocates in Congress, mainly Democrats. Their plan, according to these sources, is threatening to let E-Verify expire if they do no get amnesty, or at least some other major concessions for illegal aliens.

This extortion must not succeed. In the words of columnist Patrick Buchanan, “[T]his battle is not over. If Americans understand that the [Nancy] Pelosi-[Harry] Reid Democrats have no problem with illegal aliens talking jobs from Americans, that party can be made to pay a heavy price in 2010.

“As of today, there exists a Republican-Blue Dog Democrat coalition in both Houses that is serious about putting our country and countrymen first. . . . E-Verify is not dead. For the Reid-Pelsoi-Obama Left cannot survive the perception that it is aiding and abetting illegal aliens in taking jobs of unemployed Americans.”

Below is the tally of how the Senate voted on the E-Verify. A Nay vote was for extending the system five years.       

Alphabetical by Senator Name

Akaka (D-HI), Yea Alexander (R-TN), Nay Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Baucus (D-MT), Nay Bayh (D-IN), Nay Begich (D-AK), Yea Bennet (D-CO), Yea Bennett (R-UT), Nay Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Bond (R-MO), Nay Boxer (D-CA), Yea Brown (D-OH), Yea Brownback (R-KS), Nay Bunning (R-KY), Nay Burr (R-NC), Nay Burris (D-IL), Yea Byrd (D-WV), Yea Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Cardin (D-MD), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea Casey (D-PA), Yea Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Coburn (R-OK), Nay Cochran (R-MS), Nay Collins (R-ME), Nay Conrad (D-ND), Yea Corker (R-TN), Nay Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Nay DeMint (R-SC), Nay Dodd (D-CT), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea Durbin (D-IL), Yea

Ensign (R-NV), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay Feingold (D-WI), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea Graham (R-SC), Nay Grassley (R-IA), Nay Gregg (R-NH), Nay Hagan (D-NC), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Inouye (D-HI), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Nay Johanns (R-NE), Not Voting Johnson (D-SD), Yea Kaufman (D-DE), Yea Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay Kohl (D-WI), Yea Kyl (R-AZ), Nay Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Leahy (D-VT), Yea Levin (D-MI), Yea Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Nay Martinez (R-FL), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Nay McCaskill (D-MO), Nay

McConnell (R-KY), Nay Menendez (D-NJ), Yea Merkley (D-OR), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Nay Murray (D-WA), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Nay Pryor (D-AR), Yea Reed (D-RI), Yea Reid (D-NV), Yea Risch (R-ID), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shaheen (D-NH), Yea Shelby (R-AL), Nay Snowe (R-ME), Nay Specter (R-PA), Nay Stabenow (D-MI), Yea Tester (D-MT), Nay Thune (R-SD), Nay Udall (D-CO), Yea Udall (D-NM), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Nay Voinovich (R-OH), Nay Warner (D-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Nay Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Nay Wyden (D-OR), Yea