E-Verify renewed by the House for five years

Big Apple noted this in the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group today in this post. The news, pure and simple , is that E-Verify has been renewed as a voluntary program by the House for five years. The Senate still has to act or the program will expire in November. I would venture to say that few agricultural employers would complain if the program goes away, but it appears that will not be the case. From this press account from Government Executive:

House lawmakers have reached an agreement on legislation that would renew a program that allows employers to verify the legal status of their workers, breaking a stalemate between two committees over concerns about funding for the Social Security Administration.

The bill emerged from behind-the-scenes negotiations among lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee and the Ways and Means Committee.

The two sides had been at odds over writing language that would both reauthorize the Homeland Security Department's E-Verify program and preserve Social Security's ability to meet its core mission of providing services to seniors and the disabled.

The bill would reauthorize for five years the E-Verify program, which is an online tool that employers can use to confirm a worker's information against Homeland Security and Social Security databases.