U.S. Senate Votes AGAINST Preserving American Jobs

From FAIR's Government Relations Team
Despite the highest level of unemployment in a generation, yesterday the United States Senate voted to kill an amendment offered by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) that would have protected American jobs by enacting a long-term extension of the E-Verify program. The voluntary E-Verify program gives employers the tools they need to hire legal American workers, instead of illegal aliens, to fill an open job.

According to the Obama Administration, the nation�s unemployment rate (8.1 percent) is the highest it has been in a generation (from Bureau of Labor Statistics). Not since 1983, when unemployment stood at 8.3 percent (from Bureau of Labor Statistics), has the nation�s jobs picture been so bleak. Despite the economic picture, some Senators appear unconcerned with protecting American jobs. Of the ten Senators representing the five states with the highest unemployment rates (Michigan, Rhode Island, South Carolina, California and Nevada) only three voted in support of the Sessions� Amendment. Inexplicably, seven Senators from those states voted to �table� or kill an amendment that would help ensure available jobs in their state are going to legal workers and not illegal aliens. (You can download a PDF of the chart here for State Unemployment Rate and the Vote Results).