Big Trouble coming this week

Date: Monday, October 22, 2007 4:30 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1774 -- 10/22/2007 >>>>>

Trouble is brewing again in Washington DC. This time a broad range of
amnesties and visa amendments are being offered to the Senate Commerce,
Justice and Science (CJS) Appropriations bill. Unfortunately I don't have many
specifics at this point but thought I should get this newsletter out to alert
you. As I get more information I will share it with you.

Here is a brief summary of what is brewing this week in Washington DC:

1) H-1B
Nothing specific but the rumors are flying that an amendment will be added to
the CJS to expand H-1B visas. This late breaking information came from a
credible source -- the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI). According to a
separate alert by NumbersUSA, the most likely scenario is for the SKIL bill to
be reintroduced, which has a massive H-1B increase and many other things that
are even worse!

2) Green Cards
Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Hutchison (R-TX) introduced SA 3404 that will make
available an additional 300,000 employment based green cards.

3) H-2B
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) offered an amendment that exempts H-2B visas
from being counted towards the cap if they are renewals. Currently the cap is
66,000 per year, which means that every year the cap would effectively
increase by 66,000.

4) DREAM Act
Senator Durbin's (D-Ill) DREAM Act is back as expected -- this time thanks to
Harry Reid (D-NV). In addition to providing amnesty to millions of illegal
aliens, this bill will require states to provide illegals with in-state
tuition. According to an alert today by NumbersUSA, Reid invoked Rule 14 on
the new stand-alone DREAM Act in order to spring the amnesty the bill at any
time without hearings or committee action. For the Majority Leader to invoke
Rule 14 means that he can bring a bill to a floor without it going through the
debate and markup of a committee.

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

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,204268.shtml

Mikulski Slips Anti-Labor Amendment onto Commerce, Justice and Science
Appropriations Bill Posted on : 2007-10-22 | Author : Federation for American
Immigration Reform News Category : PressRelease

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While many workers in the
United States are struggling to avoid slipping into poverty, Senator Barbara
Mikulski (D-MD) has quietly added an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and
Science (CJS) Appropriations bill that will further grease the skids for many
workers. Mikulski's amendment, designed to benefit the Maryland seafood
industry, would incrementally increase the number of unskilled foreign H-2B
workers allowed to compete for jobs in the U.S.

Technically, the limit on H-2B visas is 66,000 per year. However, the Mikulski
amendment extends an exemption from the cap for returning H-2B workers. Thus,
in 2006, the actual number of H-2B visas issued was 122,536.
If the amendment is included in the final version of the CJS funding bill,
that figure is certain to rise again.

"Unfortunately, while every member of Congress pays lip service to the plight
of middle class workers many are quietly selling out their interests," noted
Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
"Big business has lobbyists and they have campaign dollars to throw around.
Millions of lower skilled American workers have neither. Sadly, when these
interests collide in Washington, the interests of ordinary workers lose out."

The "need" for additional unskilled foreign workers amounts to a self-
fulfilling prophesy, asserts FAIR. "In H-2B workers, industries have a supply
of workers who will work for the wages the companies wish to pay, and under
working conditions that most Americans are unlikely to accept,"
said Stein. "A lack of workers prepared to work for substandard wages and
conditions is not the same as an actual worker shortage. Nor should the
government be perpetuating conditions that drive American workers out of
certain sectors of the labor market."

FAIR is urging Congress to strip the Mikulski amendment from the final version
of the CJS Appropriations when it reaches conference committee. "We need
restraint in our immigration policies so that one group of workers after the
next are not incrementally squeezed out of their jobs and their livelihoods.
Sometimes the best program to help struggling American workers is no program
at all -- just a chance to compete for an honest job and an honest wage,"
Stein concluded.

Federation for American Immigration Reform

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

http://thomas.loc.gov/

[Page: S13160]

SA 3404. Mr. SCHUMER (for himself and Mrs. HUTCHISON) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 3043, making appropriations
for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and
related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:

On page 126, between lines 7 and 8, add the following:

Sec. 521. Section 106(d) of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-

first Century Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-313; 8 U.S.C. 1153 note) is amended-

(1) in paragraph (1)--

(A) by inserting ``1996, 1997,'' after ``available in fiscal year''; and

(B) by inserting ``group I,'' after ``schedule A,'';

(2) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ``1996, 1997, and'' after

``available in fiscal years''; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

``(4) PETITIONS.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide a

process for reviewing and acting upon petitions with respect to immigrants
described in schedule A not later than 30 days after the date on which a
completed petition has been filed.''.

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