Reading the E-Verify Tea Leaves

From my colleague Humberto Sanchez at CongressDaily comes the news that the $410 billion omnibus spending bill unveiled on Monday by House Democrats includes authorization for the controversial E-Verify program through the end of the fiscal year.

The bill "would extend authorization through the end of the fiscal year for the Homeland Security Department's E-Verify program, which allows employers to check the citizenship status of employees." E-Verify has been in the news recently as lawmakers sparred the inclusion of the reauthorization in the recently passed economic stimulus package. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., added the provision to the House draft of the bill but it was stripped from the final version signed by President Obama.