This is what happens when Congress passes bills that nobody has time to read. As it turns out, on the last page of the recently passed “Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009” was language that clarified the end date for E-Verify. There has been much confusion regarding whether the Department of Homeland Security could continue operating E-Verify to September 30, 2009 or would have had to shut it down yesterday. While DHS felt that they could extend E-Verify until September the different end dates for the program in the FY 2009 appropriations bill left many people in doubt.
This omnibus bill amended past language and clearly denoted that E-Verify should remain operational until September 30th. This was clearly the right move for Congress. But next time around, Congress should not wait until September 29, 2009 to decide whether or not to extend the program. Congress must work to re-authorize the program for longer periods of time. Re-authorizing E-Verify every couple of months only imbeds doubt in the American employers and causes unnecessary concern to those who are trying to do their due-diligence when hiring workers.
