A handful of Senate Democrats, representing swing states, joined the majority of their caucus in helping tank a plan that would have required American infrastructure jobs go to American citizens and legal immigrants, not illegal aliens.
Last week, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) proposed an amendment to the infrastructure bill that would have prohibited federal funds going to any entity that failed to enroll in and comply with the E-Verify program to ensure illegal aliens are not hired for infrastructure jobs over Americans and legal immigrants.
The amendment failed when a number of swing state Senate Democrats joined most of their colleagues in opposing the “Hire American” requirement, including:
- Joe Manchin (D-WV)
- Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)
- Jon Tester (D-MT)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
- Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
- Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
- John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
- Gary Peters (D-MI)
The “Hire American” amendment was supported by 53 Senators — including all Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA).
On Tuesday, without securing the “Hire American” requirement, 19 Senate Republicans helped pass the infrastructure bill.
Those Senate Republicans include Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Richard Burr (R-NC), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rob Portman (R-OH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jim Risch (R-ID), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Hoeven (R-ND), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Mitt Romney (R-UT).
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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