| Usually supports less immigration, less population growth, less foreign labor. |
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Each symbol in the left-hand column below
signifies an action for HIGHER immigration. |
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Each symbol in the right-hand column
below signifies an action for LOWER immigration. |
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.R. 4011, the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 that would have increased the number of North Koreans eligible for refugee/asylum status in the United States. Currently, anyone who escapes from North Korea into South Korea automatically gains South Korean citizenship. H.R. 4011 would have essentially disregarded this and qualified North Korean nationals for refugee or asylum status in the United States. H.R. 4011 eventually passed the House of Representatives by voice vote, however the provisions to increase the number of annual refugee admissions were removed before it was voted on by the full House.
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.R. 775, the Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act of 2003. Introduced by Rep. Goodlatte, H.R. 775 would have eliminated the visa lottery. This is a program that each year gives another 50,000 green cards to people without any regard to their humanitarian need or to what they might offer the country or to their having any family connections in the United States. It is a program that promotes massive illegal migration by people who think they may some day win the lottery and be allowed to stay in the United States.
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Rep. Ballenger voted against the Chrysler-Berman Amendment to H.R.2202. For Americans who want to bring immigration back down toward traditional levels, that vote was the most important one cast since 1990. Total annual immigration had snowballed from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today primarily because of provisions allowing immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. Rep. Ballenger agreed with the Jordan Commission. The House Judiciary Committee responded with H.R.2202 which would have effectively ended chain migration. But the Chrysler-Berman Amendment was introduced on the House floor to strip away the legal immigration reform provisions. The House voted in favor of the amendment, thus endorsing the chain migration which the Census Bureau projects will double the U.S. population again in the next century. Rep. Ballenger voted against that much-more congested future.
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Rep. Ballenger was an original supporter of H.R. 2202, the Immigration in the National Interest Act of 1995. It was a large omnibus bill designed to reform the entire immigration system. The legal immigration reforms it included were based on the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission's recommendations for cutting the major links of family-chain migration and protecting American workers from further wage depression. The bill would have eliminated the categories for adult children and siblings and limited that for parents of adults. H.R.2202 also included dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration, including a 10-year ban on legal re-entry for illegal aliens, additional border patrol agents and equipment, and worksite verification programs.
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Rep. Ballenger was one of 100 cosponsors of H.R. 1915, the Immigration in the National Interest Act. HR 1915, as introduced and passed by the Immigration and Claims Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, would have shifted the primary focus of immigration policy to spouses and minor children from extended family and to skilled immigrants from less skilled ones. It would have set a ceiling of 330,000 on family-based immigration. In addition this bill would have increased the number of skilled workers, while eliminating the unskilled worker category and the lottery program. H.R. 1915 also contained provisions designed to reduce illegal immigration such as worker verification programs. Many of the illegal immigration provisions of this bill were ultimately passed in the form of H.R. 2202 in 1996.
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.R. 5013, the SAFER Act of 2002. H.R. 5013 contained much needed security reforms such as increased Border Patrol agents and INS inspectors, as well as screening and tracking of aliens in the U.S. As well H.R. 5013 included immigration related anti-terrorism measures that would prevent the granting of visas to aliens known to be affiliated with terrorists. This bill, in tackling many of the provisions necessary for an effective interior enforcement strategy would have reduced the number of people entering the country who are likely to become illegal aliens. It would also have reduced permanent immigration by eliminating the visa lottery and chain migration categories. Current legal immigration levels have grown from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million annually in recent years primarily because of “chain migration” resulting from provisions allowing immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by the late Barbara Jordan, recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to protect America’s most vulnerable workers from wage depression and job competition resulting from mass immigration.
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Rep. Ballenger voted for the Smith amendment to H.R.4300 that would have maintained hard caps on most categories of immigration. If Rep. Ballenger?s hand had been the only one on the congressional lever in 1990, over 40% of the increase in immigration caused by the 1990 Act would have been blocked. Because the majority of Congress did not agree with Rep. Ballenger, the actual level today is around one million a year. That contrasts with the traditional American level of only around 250,000 before 1980 and of around 500,000 a year during the 1980s. Rep. Ballenger voted with 143 others for this amendment
which would have placed an absolute annual ceiling of 630,000 on family, worker and lottery immigration. They were defeated 266 to 143.
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.R. 2849, the USA Jobs Protection Act of 2003. H.R. 2849 would have implemented reforms of the H-1B and L-1 visa programs aimed at preventing American high-tech workers from being displaced by foreign workers. The legislation included important protections for American workers, including prevailing wage and no-layoff provisions. It also extended current no-layoff provisions for H-1B dependent employers to all H-1B employers. A companion bill, S. 1452, was introduced in the Senate by Senator Dodd.
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Rep. Ballenger voted for the Singapore Free Trade Agreement, H.R. 2739. The trade agreement would permit an unlimited number of Singaporeans to enter the U.S. each year as "treaty traders or investors" who are coming to the U.S. to carry on trade between the U.S. and Singapore or to "establish, develop, administer or provide advice or key technical services" to the operations of a business in which they have invested capital. Congress is prohibited from restricting the category with numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers. This category is in addition to the number of Singaporeans who are permitted to come to the U.S. each year under our normal immigration laws. Finally, the agreements also prohibit Congress from placing any numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers on the issuance of L-1 visas to nationals of Singapore. L-1 visas are available to "intra-company transferees," or aliens who have been employed abroad for at least one year in the three years preceding application by a business that has subsidiaries or affiliates in the United States. Such visas have been widely abused by businesses seeking to avoid the restrictions on H-1B visas. The Singapore Free Trade Agreement passed the House by a vote of 272-155.
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Rep. Ballenger voted in favor of the Chile Free Trade Agreement, H.R. 2738. The trade agreement would permit an unlimited number of workers in Chile to enter the U.S. each year as "treaty traders or investors" who are coming to the U.S. to carry on trade between the U.S. and Chile or to "establish, develop, administer or provide advice or key technical services" to the operations of a business in which they have invested capital. Congress is prohibited from restricting the category with numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers. This category is in addition to the number of Chileans who are permitted to come to the U.S. each year under our normal immigration laws. Finally, the agreements also prohibit Congress from placing any numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers on the issuance of L-1 visas to nationals of Chile. L-1 visas are available to "intra-company transferees," or aliens who have been employed abroad for at least one year in the three years preceding application by a business that has subsidiaries or affiliates in the United States. Such visas have been widely abused by businesses seeking to avoid the restrictions on H-1B visas. The Chile Free Trade Agreement passed the House by a vote of 270-156.
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Rep. Ballenger helped the House pass H.R.3736.
Enacted into law, it increased by nearly 150,000 the number of foreign workers high-tech American companies could hire over the next three years. Although the foreign workers receive temporary visas for up to six years, most historically have found ways to stay permanently in this country. Rep. Ballenger voted for more foreign workers even though U.S. high tech workers over the age of 50 were suffering 17% unemployment and U.S. firms were laying off thousands of workers at the time.
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Before the House passed the H-1B doubling bill (H.R.3736), Rep. Ballenger had an opportunity to vote for a Watt Substitute bill that would have forbidden U.S. firms from using temporary foreign workers to replace Americans. Rep. Ballenger opposed that protection. The substitute also would have required U.S. firms to check a box on a form attesting that they had first sought an American worker for the job. Rep. Ballenger voted against that. The protections for American workers fell 33 votes short of passing.
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Rep. Ballenger voted IN FAVOR of the Pombo Amendment to H.R.2202. He was voting for a massive new program that would have allowed agri-business to import up to 250,000 foreign farm workers each year for a period of service of less than a year. A bi-partisan congressional commission working with the Bush Administration (1989-93) had concluded that there were at least 190,000 farm workers already in America who were out of work at any given time. The federal commission said the oversupply of farmworkers was a major reason why farm workers’ real incomes had fallen by almost half over the previous two decades. Rep. Ballenger rejected the recommendations of the commission and took the side of growers who asked for a larger labor supply. The amendment -- which had no provisions for ensuring that the temporary workers did not stay in the U.S. as illegal aliens -- failed by a 180-242 vote.
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Rep. Ballenger supported continuing a guestworker program for foreign nurses through his vote IN FAVOR of the Burr Amendment to H.R.2202. Those favoring the amendment said many rural areas had a shortage of nurses and needed the foreign workers. The 262-154 majority, however, let the foreign nurses program end, contending that there are more than enough Americans trained in nursing to do the job if the pay and working conditions are appropriate.
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.R. 1567, the Citizenship Reform Act of 2003, legislation that would have put an end to a major source of U.S. population growth and remove an incentive for illegal immigration. It has been, and is currently, U.S. policy to automatically grant U.S. citizenship to the babies born to illegal aliens in the United States -- some 200,000 a year according to U.S. Census data. Not only do these births represent additional U.S. population growth, but because the babies of illegal aliens are U.S. citizens, they can then act as 'anchors' to eventually pull a large number of extended family members into the country legally.
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.J.Res 44 a proposal that would have amended the Constitution of the United States so that no person born in the United States would be a United States citizen unless a parent is a United States citizen, is lawfully in the United States, or has a lawful immigration status at the time of the birth.
Current U.S. policy of granting citizenship to the children born to illegal aliens in the U.S. results in about 200,000 additional citizens a year according to U.S. Census data. Not only do these births represent additional U.S. population growth, but because the babies of illegal aliens are U.S. citizens, they can then act as 'anchors' to eventually pull a large number of extended family members into the country legally.
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Rep. Ballenger took a stand against one of the largest sources of U.S. population growth and against one of the strongest incentives for illegal immigration by co-sponsoring H.R.73 (the Bilbray Bill). As a matter of policy for decades, the federal government has granted citizenship to babies born to illegal-alien mothers. This is a pronounced reward to their mothers for having entered or stayed in the United States in violation of immigration laws. Not only do the mothers immediately get access to a whole array of social services for their babies, but these illegal aliens get a virtual guarantee that they will never be asked to leave the country. These babies of illegal aliens are called “anchor babies” because they act as an anchor to eventually pull large extended families into the United States. Rep. Ballenger wants to put an end to this enticement for citizens of other nations to become illegal aliens in this country. H.R.73 would have denied citizenship to babies of women who at the time of giving birth are in the U.S. as illegal aliens, tourists, temporary foreign workers, foreign students and diplomats. The only exception is if the mother is married to the father of the baby, and the father is a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident alien. This will reduce legal U.S. population growth considerably. A California study in 1992 found 96,000 new citizens were added in that year in that state alone through these ‘anchor babies’ of illegal aliens. U.S. Census data on the birthrates of the foreign born indicate that well over 200,000 new citizens are added to the U.S. each year through anchor babies.
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Rep. Ballenger co-sponsored H.R. 7, the Citizenship Reform Act of 1997 that would have put an end to the automatic granting of citizenship to babies born to illegal aliens in the United States. This policy grants citizenship to some 200,000 additional people a year according to U.S. Census data. Not only do these births represent additional U.S. population growth, but because the babies of illegal aliens are U.S. citizens, they can then act as 'anchors' to eventually pull a large number of extended family members into the country legally.
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In the 104th Congress, Rep. Ballenger joined 44 other Representatives in cosponsoring H.R.1363 (the Bilbray Bill) to halt the automatic granting of U.S. citizenship to babies born to illegal-alien mothers in the United States. The House leadership did not bring the bill to a vote.
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Rep. Ballenger voted in favor of the Green Amendment to H.R. 10, the 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act. The Green Amendment would have made all terrorist-related grounds of inadmissibility, grounds of deportability, as well. This would have strengthened immigration law with regard to the deportability of alien terrorists. The Green Amendment passed by a vote of 283-132.
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Rep. Ballenger voted against the Menendez Amendment to H.R. 10, the 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act. H.R. 10 represented the primary legislative response in the House of Representatives to the recommendations of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9-11 Commission). The 9-11 Commission made several recommendations with regard to immigration that, in the Commission's opinion, would increase security and help prevent a future attack. Many of the Commission's immigration recommendations were included in H.R. 10 such as provisions to: prohibit driver's licenses to illegal aliens; expedite removal of illegal aliens; increase Border Patrol and ICE agents; and prevent Federal agencies from accepting or recognizing consular ID as valid proof of identity. The Menendez Amendment would have stripped ALL of the immigration provisions from H.R. 10, thus removing all of the measures that were based upon the immigration-related recommendations of the 9-11 Commission. The Menendez Amendment failed by a vote of 203-213.
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Rep. Ballenger voted against the King Amendment (H. AMDT 655) to the Commerce, Justice, State, Appropriations Act of 2005, H.R. 4754, that would have increased funding to the Justice Department for enforcing current federal law against sanctuary policies for illegal aliens. Sanctuary policies bar public officials, including police officers, from asking an individual's immigration status to determine eligibility for public services and from reporting illegal aliens to federal authorities. In 1996, Congress passed a law that specifically prohibits state and local governments from enacting sanctuary policies. Despite that, cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston, still have sanctuary policies in place. Maine is the only state with a sanctuary policy. The King Amendment would have allowed the Justice Department to more fully enforce federal law against policies that protect illegal aliens, criminal aliens, and, potentially, terrorists. The amendment failed by a vote of 139-278.
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Rep. Ballenger voted in favor of the Goode Amendment to H.R. 4200, to authorize the Secretary of Defense to assign members of the military, under certain circumstances, to assist the Department of Homeland Security in the performance of border control functions. The Goode Amendment passed the House by a vote of 231-191.
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Rep. Ballenger voted in favor of the Hostettler Amendment to H.R. 1950, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. The Hostettler Amendment would have put some major restrictions on consular-issued ID cards that are frequently issued to illegal aliens by foreign governments. These cards make it easier for illegal aliens to gain government services and to otherwise profit from their illegal activity. The Hostettler Amendment passed by a vote of 226-198.
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.R. 2671, the CLEAR Act of 2003. H.R. 2671 essentially mandated the federal government to pick up every illegal alien apprehended by local authorities, and it would have paid local police and sheriff's departments for detaining the illegal aliens. This legislation would not only have stopped the illegal population in the U.S. from growing above its then estimated 10-million level but also would have begun slowly and steadily reducing the illegal population.
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Rep. Ballenger voted in favor of the Goode Amendment to H.R. 1588, to authorize members of the military, under certain circumstances, to assist the Department of Homeland Security in the performance of border control functions. The Goode Amendment passed the House by a vote of 250-179.
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Rep. Ballenger cosponsored H.R. 687, the Identification Integrity Act of 2003. The bill would have required a secure and verifiable ID be used to obtain Federal public benefits. H.R. 687 would have prohibited federal agencies from accepting non-verifiable ID documents issued by foreign governments, such as the matricula consular. H.R. 687 would have permited acceptance of foreign passports, regardless of whether the holder has permission to be in the country, as evidenced by a US-issued entrance stamp or visa. Thus, illegal aliens holding those foreign cards would not be able to use them to open an account at a bank regulated by the Treasury Department or to enter a federal building guarded by federal law enforcement authorities such as the U.S. Marshal Service, or to apply for any federally provided public benefit.
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Rep. Ballenger voted in favor of H. Amdt. 479 to H.R. 4546, the Department of Defense Authorization bill. The amendment authorized the Secretary of Defense to assign members of the military, under certain circumstances, to assist the Bureau of Border Security and U.S. Customs Service of the Department of Homeland Security on preventing the entry of terrorists, drug traffickers, and illegal aliens into the United States The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Goode of Virginia, passed the House by a vote of 232-183.
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Rep. Ballenger voted AGAINST H RES 365 which was brought up and passed in a new form in March of 2002. The vote against the bill was a vote against rewarding illegal aliens via a four-month
reinstatement of Section 245(i). That is an expired immigration provision that allows illegal aliens with qualified relatives or employers in the U.S. to pay a $1,000 fine, to apply for a green card in this country, and to be allowed to stay in this country without fear of deportation until their turn arrives for a green card years, and even decades, later. The illegal aliens also would not have to go through the usual security screening in U.S. embassies in their home countries. The lowest estimate from supporters of the bill was that some 200,000 illegal aliens would benefit. H RES 365 also included language that would have implemented some important visa-tracking regulations helpful to discouraging illegal immigration. But all of those provisions had already been passed previously in H.R. 3525, making the assistance to illegal aliens the sole purpose of the bill.
Rep. Ballenger was one of 137 Representatives who voted AGAINST the 245(i) amnesty. The bill narrowly passed by a vote of 275 to 137 (a two-thirds majority was needed in order to pass).
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Rep. Ballenger voted on the floor of the House AGAINST a motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 1885 a four-month extension of the Section 245(i) amnesty. The vote on the four-month extension represented a compromise of the White House push for a longer extension. Even though the four month extension was better than a year-long or permanent extension, it still would have resulted in at least 200,000 more people being added to the country through illegal immigration. Rep. Ballenger was one of only 43 Representatives who voted against the four-month extension of 245(i). The final vote was 336-43 in favor of the four-month extension. It did not become law, though.
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Rep. Ballenger voted to enforce the border by voting for the Traficant amendment to HR 2586. This amendment authorized the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, to request that members of the Armed Forces assist the INS with border control duties. The Traficant amendment passed by a vote of 242 to 173, but this measure was never considered by the Senate.
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Rep. Ballenger voted in favor of the Traficant amendment to H.R. 1401. This amendment authorized the Secretary of Defense, under certain circumstances, to assign members of the Armed Forces to assist the Border Patrol and Customs Service only in drug interdiction and counter terrorism activities along our borders. The Traficant amendment passed by a vote of 242 to 181.
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Given the chance to vote against a notorious pro-illegal immigration program called Section 245(i), Rep. Ballenger declined. The Section 245(i) program dealt with certain illegal aliens who were on lists that could qualify them eventually for legal residency. It provided them a loophole in which they could pay a fee and avoid a 1996 law’s provision that punishes illegal aliens by barring them for 10 years from entering the U.S. on a legal visa as a student, tourist, worker or immigrant. The controversial experimental program was supposed to “sunset” late in 1997 and be automatically taken off the books. But the Senate voted to permanently continue the pro-illegal immigration program by attaching it to an appropriations bill. House leaders, though, refused to include the program in the House appropriations bill. That meant the issue would be decided in a joint Senate/House Conference Committee. Representatives wanting to make sure that House Conferees fought the Senate stance, brought a “Motion to Instruct” to the floor. The motion -- if passed -- would make it clear that the House wanted the Conferees to kill the Section 245(i) program. Immigration lawyers lobbied the House vigorously to keep what to them was a lucrative program. Rep. Ballenger was part of a 268 to 153 House majority that refused to “instruct” the Conferees to kill the program. Despite the vote, House Conferees worked hard to kill the program and succeeded.
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Rep. Ballenger was part of a 333-87 majority which passed H.R.2202. It was a large omnibus bill with dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration. It authorized major increases in the border patrol forces. But it also had many provisions aimed at making life more miserable for illegal aliens who manage to get into the country, half of whom arrive with legal visas but then illegally overstay. Until passage of the bill, a person could be apprehended as an illegal alien, be deported and then turn around and come back to the U.S. on a legal student, tourist, worker or relative visa. After the bill, an illegal alien was barred from any kind of legal entry for 10 years.
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Rep. Ballenger voted AGAINST the Gallegly Amendment to H.R.2202. That amendment would have made pilot workplace verification programs (see above) mandatory in five of the top seven immigration states. The amendment failed 86-331 under complaints that businesses and states should have more choice in whether to participate in programs to keep illegal aliens from taking jobs.
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Rep. Ballenger voted AGAINST the Chabot Amendment to H.R.2202. His vote was one in favor of setting up voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states that would assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by H.R.2202 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. But a coalition of conservative pro-business Members and of liberal civil libertarians tried to kill the verification program as too intrusive into the private rights of businesses and workers. Opposing that coalition, Rep. Ballenger was part of a 260-159 majority that preserved the voluntary pilot programs.
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