re legally authorized to work in the United States. Specifically, the Social Security numbers and alien identification numbers of new hires are checked against Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records in order to weed out fraudulent numbers and help ensure that new hires are genuinely eligible to work. The program quickly confirms 99.5 percent of work-eligible employees. Over 250,000 American employers voluntarily use E-Verify and an average of 1,300 new businesses sign up each week (sign up at www.dhs.gov/everify). While the program is voluntary, federal contractors and some employers in the agricultural industry have been required to use it. In 2009, a rule went into effect requiring all employees working for the federal government, including Congress, be screened by E-Verify. Taxpayers should not be forced to fund illegal workers and the federal government must be sure to follow the law, down to the letter. Part of the success of E-Verify is that participating employers are happy with the results. Outside evaluations have found that the vast majority of employers using E-Verify believe it to be an effective and reliable tool for checking the legal status of their employees. And E-Verify recently received an exceptionally high overall customer satisfaction score – 82 out of 100 the American Customer Satisfaction Index scale. In comparison, the government’s overall satisfaction score is 69. The program continues to expand and improve. Last year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services implemented a photo matching tool. This allows an employer to view a picture of the employee – from a green card, an employment authorization document or a passport – to determine that the employee is in fact the person to whom that Social Security number or alien identification number was issued. We should continue to add photo-matching capabilities to E-Verify to enhance the program’s reliability. It is also important that DHS and SSA work together to investigate any suspicious overuse of Social Security numbers through E-Verify, as these may indicate possible identity theft. It's estimated that seven million people are working in