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From the Wall Street Journal July 10, 2009:

A series of Senate floor votes this week seeking to toughen immigration enforcement is giving the Obama administration its first real taste of the chilly climate for overhauling immigration laws.

On Thursday, the Senate approved a measure that would effectively overturn an immigration-enforcement decision announced one day earlier by the Obama administration. The Department of Homeland Security had said Wednesday that it would rescind a Bush administration program aimed at forcing employers to fire workers who are unable to resolve discrepancies in their Social Security records.

…

The Obama administration also said Wednesday that it would fully implement a Bush administration initiative that would require federal contractors and subcontractors to use an electronic government program aimed at keeping them from hiring illegal workers. It is expected to affect more than 170,000 employers.

But that wasn’t tough enough for Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who has spearheaded efforts against immigration overhauls in recent years. Sen. Sessions won passage of an amendment after the Obama announcement Wednesday that would make the program, known as E-Verify, permanent and mandatory, removing any White House discretion to end it. Before the amendment passed, Sen. Sessions won support on a key procedural vote from 10 Democrats and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

Related articles

• Government to Require Verification of Workers (nytimes.com)