All That Pandering Was For Nothing, Pt. II

BUSH’S PEN DOES IN MINUTES WHAT IT TOOK SOUTH CAROLINA’S GOVERNMENT ALL YEAR TO ACCOMPLISH

FITSNews - June 10, 2008 - Our bet is that staffers in S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s office are probably kicking themselves right about now. How come? Well, with one stroke of the pen, they could have taken the do-nothing state legislature’s election year pandering plan completely off the table and made “immigration reform” their own issue.

That’s what President George W. Bush did yesterday, signing an executive order that requires all government contractors to use the controversial E-Verify system to document that their workers are in the country legally. From the LA Times:

The Bush administration, in an aggressive new effort to keep illegal immigrants out of the workforce, on Monday ordered all companies doing business with the federal government to begin ensuring their employees can legally work in the U.S.

The order will require thousands of firms to use a government system called E-Verify to check workers’ Social Security numbers. The system has been voluntary for private firms but mandatory for government agencies.

In other news, we could have had a V-8 this morning (editor’s note: hands slap foreheads ).