Norquist/Microsoft/H-1B connection

Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 5:21 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1535 -- 08/09/2006 >>>>>

As I have explained many times in this newsletter, Microsoft has been one
of the movers and shakers behind the H-1B program. I recently found some
documents that prove the relationship between Microsoft, Grover Norquist
(the K-Street lobbyist associated with the Jack Abramoff scandal), and
H-1B.

In 1998, Norquist received $60,000 from Microsoft to lobby for an increase
in the yearly H-1B cap. At that time the cap was at 65,000 per year.
Norquist received this money sometime between January and June of 1988.
Norquist came through for them because on October 21, 1998, ACWIA was
passed to increase the number of H-1B visas from 65,000 to 115,000.

This article by Diane Alden described how Norquist operated:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/2/10/183350.shtml
H-1B: Bombing the Middle Class

Well-known conservatives like tax-reform expert Grover Norquist
have petitioned the U.S. Congress to expand the appalling H-1B
or L-1 visa system. They employ the myth that there are not
enough highly skilled technical workers with new skills coming
along in the U.S. to accommodate the needs of industry. It is a
convenient myth for the Republican establishment to cling to.

Here is one by Dan Stein who didn't have access to the Norquist documents
in the year 2000 when he authored this article but he obviously knew what
was going on.

http://www.popstop.org/pages/h1b/wt_081700.html
The great visa scam

Mr. Norquist's clients? Full disclosure on the part of ATR
president Grover Norquist would reveal that he's paid by
Microsoft and others to take a positivist legislative agenda to
Congress (including the importation of more foreign labor).

In order to see the Norquist documents, follow these steps:

1) Go to this website: http://sopr.senate.gov/

2) Click on the link that says: "Access the US Lobby Report Images for All
Years"

3) Select "Lobbyist name" in the query box

4) Click the Go button

5) Enter "norquist" without quotes in the search box

6) Click the link for "NORQUIST, GROVER G."

7) Click the link on line 2 for "MICROSOFT CORP NORQUIST, GROVER G.
MID-YEAR REPORT Mid-Year (Jan 1- Jun 30) 1998"

8) You should be looking at a PDF document that shows that Norquist was
paid $60,000

9) Click the "Next" button in the upper left corner of the page. You will
see a document that shows that the client name was Microsoft and the issue
being lobbied is "S. 1723", American Competiveness Act, or ACWIA

For more info on Grover Norquist, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Norquist

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.popstop.org/pages/h1b/wt_081700.html

The great visa scam
By Dan Stein
The Washington Times
August 17, 2000

Most readers will recognize the revived series of cheap shots on FAIR by
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) for what it is ("FAIR Targets Abraham," July
26), an attack by party regulars paid to lobby for particular interests.
This time it's the "conservative" gurus at ATR -- led by Grover Norquist --
who are mad at FAIR. Our crime? We've highlighted fraud in the H1-B foreign
labor program. Never mind that most Americans abhor these programs as
modern forms of indenture. Never mind that every impartial study of the
practice has found that foreign labor programs push Americans out of these
fields. Never mind that the overall response to the ads opposing more
foreign labor has been overwhelmingly positive. And never mind that ATR is
attacking FAIR because Mr. Norquist's clients fear that FAIR's views are
resonating with Americans across the nation.

Mr. Norquist's clients? Full disclosure on the part of ATR president Grover
Norquist would reveal that he's paid by Microsoft and others to take a
positivist legislative agenda to Congress (including the importation of
more foreign labor). It seems Mr. Norquist has a habit of donning more
corporate hats than Dr. Seuss' Bartholomew Cubbins and neglecting to
mention conflicts of interest. Mr. Norquist and his fellow travelers also
claim unto themselves the right to be the sole arbiters of "true
conservatism," an ideology that now inventively includes unregulated mass
immigration into America.

A quick review of the history of real conservative thought from Russell
Kirk to Edmund Burke (including even Adam Smith and his fellow invisible
hands) suggests that support for mass immigration has been either
antithetical to conservative thought or -- at most -- a neutral factor.

The real issue is whether the leadership in Congress will muster up the
intestinal fortitude to move beyond its party popinjays and corporate
hucksters and start listening to real Americans again. Both parties need to
stop running from immigration issues. The H-1B program has been a sham from
the beginning. It uses recently graduated foreign students to do jobs under
conditions that discourage Americans from moving into these fields.

Don't get me wrong. Neither FAIR, nor most Americans, opposes a legitimate,
clearly defined, and well-enforced program that meets unforeseeable
temporary labor shortages -- especially one requiring extraordinary merit
and ability. But the bill introduced by Sen. Spencer Abraham is no more
than a blank check that generic employers could fill in as they see fit.
H-1B fosters a dependency on substitutable foreign labor. That's why most
H-1B workers lack extraordinary resumes. They're just plain Jane
substitutes for U.S. programmers, engineers -- and now even fashion models
and sushi chefs.

The fact that Congress is even considering a bill that would nearly double
the number of skilled foreign guest workers is itself an indictment of the
abject failure of our immigration policy to serve our national needs, and
the extent to which special interests now control the whole process. If Mr.
Abraham truly believes that we need 200,000-plus guest workers to serve our
nation's economic needs, then how can he explain his continued defense of
our overall legal immigration policy -- a policy admitting nearly one
million people a year, most without a college education?

If our industries can't find the workers they claim to need out of that
pool, then Mr. Abraham should be fighting for an overhaul of the entire
policy, not obstructing needed reforms. Mr. Abraham, who is the Senate's
immigration subcommittee chairman, needs to be looking at quality, not
reflexively defending quantity. We believe -- like most -- that all
institutions are meant to promote human dignity. Our free enterprise system
is to serve the people -- our people. Ceteris paribus -- a country should
do its own work. We believe a more limited immigration flow is consistent
with our belief that there is an obligation to protect the health of our
social institutions, our jobs and the environment.

Successful societies have found ways to remain economically vibrant and
competitive without engaging in policies that grind the face of the
American worker. In our view, no society will remain successful if it
continually undermines its own communities with mass immigration.

In the name of fairness and decency for those who want equal opportunity in
America, let's abolish the H-1B program once and for all. Let's get about
the business of building our own economic future together, based on
traditional notions of self-reliance, independence and "can do"
determination. Our future American community -- conservative and liberal --
deserves nothing less.

Dan Stein is executive director of the Federation for American Immigration
Reform (FAIR).

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