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December 17, 2005 |
Don Seymour
Press Secretary
202-225-6205 |
Boehner Votes “No” on Immigration Bill Due
to Excessive Government Mandates on Private Sector
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
last night voted against an illegal immigration bill he
described as “well-intentioned but fatally flawed.”
Boehner praised provisions in the bill that would
strengthen America’s border security and curb illegal
immigration, but strongly criticized a section that
would impose a massive new government mandate on private
sector employers by creating a complex new federal
database to track workers inside the United States.
“We can’t strengthen our nation’s borders by strangling
our nation’s economy,” Boehner said. “This bill has
many strong points and I wanted badly to vote for it.
But the massive employer mandates included in the bill
ultimately made that impossible.”
“We need to get serious about border protection. After
September 11th, tolerating violations of our immigration
policies is no longer an option,” said Boehner. “But
under the guise of securing our borders, this bill gives
the federal government authority to sign-off on every
hiring decision in the country. Federal bureaucrats
will have Americans’ personal information at the touch
of a button. This has ‘Big Brother’ written all over
it.”
Boehner, along with fellow GOP Reps. Steve Chabot (R-OH)
and Chris Cannon (R-UT), unsuccessfully attempted to
offer an amendment that would have revised the flawed
section of the bill while keeping the bill’s strong
border security provisions intact.
H.R. 4437 extends an “employment eligibility” pilot
program created in 1996 to all employers. American
employers will be required to verify the employment
eligibility of ALL workers – more than 140 million –
through a federal database maintained by the Department
of Homeland Security.
In the 104th Congress, Boehner supported an amendment to
H.R. 2202 that would have prohibited the creation of the
employment eligibility database. He has also actively
fought against similar efforts to create a national
database tracking America’s college students.
“The vast majority of America’s several million
employers are law abiding and should not be burdened
with another cumbersome federal mandate,” added Boehner.
“Forcing them each to REVERIFY the work authorization
of ALL previously hired employees is impractical,
unfair, and does little to combat the illegal
immigration HR 4437 intends to address.”
Boehner represents Ohio’s Eighth Congressional District,
which includes all of Darke, Miami, and Preble counties,
most of Butler and Mercer counties, and the northeastern
corner of Montgomery County. He was first elected to
Congress in 1990.
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Republican
National Hispanic Assembly