AGC Urges the Senate to Oppose the Sessions Debarment Amendment (AGC Key Vote)

January 25, 2007

Dear Senator:

On behalf of The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), I urge you to vote no on a series of employment verification amendments that may be offered by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to H.R. 2, the Minimum Wage bill.  The proper venue for these amendments is within the context of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.  Employment verification is one of many areas in our immigration laws that need to be fixed, but attempting to repair one area at a time just exacerbates an already severe problem. 

AGC is the largest and oldest national commercial construction trade association with more than 32,000 firms.  We are greatly concerned about language debarring companies from bidding on federal projects if they inadvertently violate immigration law.  The existing federal debarment process protects the government’s proprietary interests; it has never been used to punish first time offenders with what is comparable to a corporate death sentence.  The current Federal Acquisition Regulations already grant the authority to debar businesses for a wide range of improper conduct, including commissions of a criminal offense or a civil judgment for conduct involving fraud. Because of the severity of the punishment, the debarment process includes a ten part test that differentiates habitual bad actors from those who have made a simple mistake. 

The Sessions amendments are comparable to using the nuclear option for a paperwork violation.  These amendments will have ramifications well beyond immigration law, and would open the floodgates to using the procurement system as enforcement mechanism for even first time paperwork violations.

Finally, aside from being presented outside the construct of comprehensive immigration reform, the Sessions amendments do not address key components to a workable electronic employment verification system (EEVS).  We need an EEVS that is fast, accurate and reliable under practical working conditions.  It should also be phased-in to guarantee proper implementation at every level and have an accountability structure for all involved—including our government.  Penalties should be commensurate to the offense, with provisions to protect first-time good faith offenders caught in the ever-changing myriad of federal regulations.

I urge you to oppose these amendments in favor of working with us to pass comprehensive reform that includes an effective and practical EEVS. 

Sincerely,

Jeffrey D. Shoaf
Senior Executive Director
Government and Public Affairs