Trouble Brewing in the House of Representatives

Date: Friday, December 16, 2005 12:04 AM

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JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

December 15, 2005 No. 1386

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Thursday's battle over immigration in the House will continue on Friday. An
immigration bill called "The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal
Immigration Control Act of 2005" (H.R. 4437) is being debated, and there
are over 50 amendments being proposed. Many of the amendments are designed
to either gut the bill, or to allow guest workers and amnesty.

Jeff Flake (R-AZ) put language in an amendment that said there is a need
for an expanded foreign guest worker program. Fortunately Flake's amendment
was voted down, but that doesn't mean that American workers will be spared.
There are probably plenty of nasty surprises that could be inserted into
the bill.

On Friday the House will debate Rep. J.D. Hayworth's (R-AZ) amendment that
will boost the number of employment based Green Cards from 140,000 a year
to 205,000. Hayworth's bill would be a huge boost to countries like India
and Mexico that have pushing for more Green Cards.

To see Hayworth's amendment go to this page:
http://www.rules.house.gov/109/specialrules/hr4437/109hr4437_hayworth95.pdf

Hayworth is considered to be an immigration reform politician, but his only
concern is that illegal immigration stops. He made it very clear at a
recent immigration conference in Scottsdale, Arizona that he supports
guest-worker programs as part of a "comprehensive immigration reform".
Hayworth is a member of the US-Mexico Congressional Caucus chaired by
Congressman Dave Drier and Charlie Stenholm. The agenda of this caucus is
to promote Mexican interests over Americans and that creates suspicion in
Arizona that Hayworth just uses his "tough on immigration" rhetoric to
score points with groups like the Minutemen. Hayworth is also a member of
the India Caucus, which I have written about extensively. To find out more
about how the India Caucus is in bed with special interests that want more
H-1Bs and outsourcing read these:

http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/fourteen-four/xiv-4-275.pdf

http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/fifteen-one/xv-1-45.pdf

Many of you will probably ask me why so many Arizona politicians want to
betray American workers. I wish I had the answer. The bottom line is that
Arizona voters keep putting them into office, and the politicians keep
destroying more and more American jobs.

The Indian journalist in the article below is very optimistic that the
House is going to approve an increase in H-1B. This could indicate that
there is trouble brewing that we don't know about. All I can say is to be
vigilant and to not hesitate to call your representatives to oppose any
increases in Green Cards, H-1B, or another other types of employment based
visas. NumbersUSA is leading the fight against these traitorous amendments
so work with them and support their efforts any way you can.

Go here for the latest info on HR 4437:
http://www.numbersusa.com/hottopic/4437.html#1

You can watch the House debates on C-SPAN on Friday.

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http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1002419&CatID=9

Thursday, December 15, 2005 10:01:00 PM

H-1B visas: US lobbies push
to help India

Uttara Choudhury

NEW YORK: Immigration reform is working its slow uncertain way through the
US Congress but there is a groundswell of support from powerful American
business groups and economists for multiplying the annual quota of H-1B
visas many times beyond present limits.

"US industry universally would like to see a freer, easier flow of
talented, technical people between India and the US. We are working up on
Capitol Hill on finding a solution," Ron Somers, president of the US"India
Business Council, told DNA.

"We will press for the liberalisation of the visa regime while respecting
the need for national security," added Somers.

According to economists, the number of people allowed into the US is far
too small, posing a significant problem for the economy in the years ahead.
Only 140,000 green cards - the document which gives holders the right to
work and live permanently in the US - are issued annually to scientists,
engineers and other skilled workers.

Most Indians, especially information technology workers, wind up in the US
on temporary H-1B guest worker visas which are good for specific jobs for
three years with the possibility of one renewal. The US Congress cut the
annual quota of H-1B visas in 2003 from 200,000 to well under 100,000. Now
demand far exceeds supply. The small quota of 65,000 for the current fiscal
year that began in October is already exhausted.

In November this year, the US Senate bowed to pressure from industry to
approve a proposal to "recapture" unused H-1B visas going back to the 1990s
and to add 30,000 of those unused visas to the current 65,000 annual cap.

Gary Becker, 1992 Nobel laureate in economics and a fellow at Stanfords
Hoover Institute, argued instead that the right approach would be to
increase the number of entry permits to skilled professionals and eliminate
the H-1B programme altogether, so that all such visas became permanent.

"Basically, I am proposing that H-1B visas be folded into a much larger,
employment"based green card program," Becker said in the Wall Street
Journal. "The annual quota should be multiplied" and there should be no
upper bound on the numbers from any single country. Such upper bounds place
large countries like India and China, with many highly qualified
professionals, at a considerable and unfair disadvantage -at no gain to the
US," he added.

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) also wants the
number of H-1B visas granted to India to increase.

"American employers need to have the additional numbers to get the skills
that they need. The market place is the best arbitrator to decide the quota
for H"1B visas," said Bob Cohen, senior vice president, ITAA.

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