Wednesday, February 11, 2009
STIMULUS DOLLARS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
| Prior to the senate's passage of the most expensive spending package in history, there was a great deal of debate on exactly what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 should include and what guidelines should be created regarding how money in the bill would be spent. A bill of such historic size and scope has many strings attached and well it should. That is why Republicans in the Senate tried to insure that one of the greatest concerns in this bill, jobs, be addressed properly. So Alabama's Republican Senator, Jeff Sessions, tried to offer amendment SA 239. It was an amendment that required all businesses that received any troubled asset relief money or that would get any other federal funds or tax breaks be required to implement use of the electonic verification data base that currently operates under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security. The E-Verify system vets the immigration status of workers and helps to prevent the hiring of undocumented immigrants. The measure would have been an added level of security to help insure that the stimulus package did its job for the American people. It was meant to insure that money aimed at increasing jobs for Americans did just that and created jobs for Americans and not foreign citizens living here illegally. But despite attempts to make this spending bill a more meaningful recovery package, Democrat Senator Max Baucus of Montana objected to the measure. Immediately following the objection, Nebraska Democrat Senator Ben Nelson made a motion to conclude debate on the entire stimulus package and with a vote of 61 to 36 debate was ended and the stimulus package was scheduled to be voted on without any assurances that any stimulus created jobs will go only to American citizens. Had debate not ended and the amendment been approved, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez pledged that they would have used their veto power, under special procedures, to have blocked the E-Verify amendment from being included the final bill. By denying inclusion of the E-Verify amendment, Democrats have slapped unemployed Americans in the face and Senators Reid, Menendez, Baucus and Nelson have gone out of their way to put the employment opportunities of illegal immigrants on par with hard working, law abiding, American workers. Some reports suggest that their refusal to approve the measure could account for as much as 10 or 11 percent of the money in this stimulus package going towards the hiring of illegal immigrants. With billions of dollars of questionable spending, already included in this so-called recovery package, it is a travesty to see lawmakers go out of their way to willfully waste more by insuring that illegal immigrants have a fair shot at taking jobs away from needy Americans. Sadly, this is just one example of the American Recovery and Investment Act's wasteful spending and misappropriation of funds. Even sadder is the apparent loyalty that Democrats have to the underground culture of illegal immigration. |
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