CEI Today: Farm Bill, Obamacare impact on jobs/state courts, and misuse of E-Verify

FARM BILL – FRAN SMITH

Farm Subsidy Programs in House Farm Bill

The House is expected to vote this week on the five-year farm bill. But representatives from a diverse coalition of groups – such as CEI, the Environmental Working Group, National Taxpayers Union, National Black Farmers Association, U.S. PIRG, and Defenders of Wildlife – have voiced serious concerns with massive farm subsidy programs contained in the bill.

OBAMACARE IMPACT – BILL FREZZA

Forbes: Coming Soon: A Dramatic Downshift In Company Size, Plus Hours Worked

The effect [of Obamacare] will be a dramatic shift in firm size, as many medium-sized companies restructure to avoid the law, spinning out functions to subsidiaries. Outsourcing, subcontracting, and shifting employees from full to part time will become the norm. Entirely new corporate forms are likely to emerge—for example restaurants with no wait staff will contract work to wait staff firms with no restaurants, allowing each to operate under the thresholds. Small businesses will put off growth plans to avoid tripping the limits, learning, like Italian firms, that when growth is punished, small is beautiful indeed.

E-VERIFY – DAVID BIER

Openmarket.org: E-Verify National ID System Threatens Americans’ Privacy

“I’m not a criminal, so there’s really no reason for me to be in a criminal database.” That was James Shepherd, a Kentucky native and a roofer, after he was stopped by police under “suspicion of trespassing” at a Florida hotel. The officer on the scene asked to take his picture and ran it through Florida’s facial recognition database. Finding no matches, he uploaded Shepherd’s photo with the label “suspicious person.”

This should make those who support, in order to stop illegal immigration, the E-Verify national ID system contained in the Senate immigration bill consider what other applications authorities could find for the System. >