U.S. Chamber and ACLU Support Stripping Basic Pilot Program From Stimulus Plan

Warn That New Mandate to Use Flawed Program Would Lead to More Layoffs

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The United States Chamber of Commerce and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today urged the conferees of the stimulus legislation to strip a provision requiring businesses to use an experimental and flawed employment verification system to hire workers. Both groups warned that the new mandate would lead to major layoffs and delays in hiring.

"The purpose of the stimulus legislation is to reinvigorate the economy by encouraging business to expand and retain workers," said Randel K. Johnson, vice president of Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits. "Forcing the Basic Pilot program on businesses that receive stimulus funds would lead to tens of thousands of layoffs. Now is the time to help employers retain workers not hurt them."

The ACLU and the U.S. Chamber support language approved last year in a House vote of 407 to 2 that extends the Basic Pilot program in its current voluntary form, together with the requirement that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct two studies. One study would look at the erroneous tentative nonconfirmations under the Basic Pilot program; the other, the program's effects on small entities.

"It would be prudent to wait for the results of these studies before imposing a mandate on all employers, especially now, given the cuts that some businesses are having to make," Johnson added.

According to Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, "The objective of the stimulus package is to put Americans back to work. It makes little sense for the conferees to retain a requirement for entities receiving stimulus funding that is known to cause significant delays in hiring employees. By harming both workers and their employers, this requirement would only further cripple our economy. The federal government needs to fully examine the implications of mandatory employment verification before moving forward with this proposal."

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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