WASHINGTON, D.C. - Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, has joined colleagues in sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Leader Boehner asking for a long-term reauthorization of the E-Verify program.  This program gives employers the ability to verify that new hires are legally eligible for employment. 

             “At a time when the creation of new jobs is on everyone’s mind, ensuring that those new jobs are filled by legal workers is a crucial and often overlooked piece of the recovery puzzle,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.  “While E-Verify has been a great success, the failure of Congress to authorize it for any significant amount of time has handicapped its widespread adoption by employers who need predictability and reliability.  Congress can fix this problem today.”

             The E-Verify program is currently handling one out of every eight new employees.  With a 99.6% rate of successfully verifying legal workers, the program gives employers a valuable tool in complying with federal regulations for hiring.  However, the program is capable of up to 240 million queries a year, or four times the average number of new hires in the United States.

Unfortunately, business owners and employers have expressed hesitation in utilizing the program because of uncertainly of its long-term existence.