Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 10:10:54 -0700 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: Wolf-Ehlers press conference today To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter The message enclosed below is from the president of the American Mathematical Society. The announcement in the proposed legislation seems like gallows humor: Wolf and Ehlers will announce the introduction of legislation to forgive interest on undergraduate student loans for math, science and engineering majors who agree to work five years in their field upon graduation. Who "agree" to work in their field?! Most can't FIND work in their field. This is just bizarre. Ehlers, the former physics professor turned congressperson, is of course well aware of the fact that most physics graduates haven't been able to find jobs in physics in the last 20 years, if not longer. Note the participation of Ehlers and Merten. Back when Ehlers first ran for office, some critics of the H-1B program were expressing hope that Ehlers, as a physics professor, would defend U.S. citizen and permanent resident (i.e. green card holder) engineers and scientists, whose job opportunities are greatly reduced by foreign cheap labor under the H-1B work visa program. I told them to forget it; academia has highly vested interest in the H-1B program, and needless to say, Ehlers did not fulfill the critics' expectations. Merten is a university president, so he has the ultimate in vested interests. He has consistently supported the industry's side on the H-1B issue, and has worked closely with the ITAA industry lobbying group. He sits on the board of several high-tech firms, one of which hired an H-1B engineer at a salary of only $30K. See Section IV.A of my university law journal article, at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/MichJLawReform.pdf Norm From: Sam Rankin To: cnsf@ams.org Sent: 4/12/05 10:46:50 AM Subject: Wolf-Ehlers Press Conference Today For Your Information: Press Conference Featuring: Former Speaker Newt Gingrich Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Michigan) Alan Merten, president, George Mason University 1 p.m.. Tuesday, April 12 Cannon HOB Terrace (Wooden platform just outside Cannon HOB Building) (Rain Location: H 309 in the Capitol - House Science-State-Justice-Commerce Subcommittee) Wolf and Ehlers will announce the introduction of legislation to forgive interest on undergraduate student loans for math, science and engineering majors who agree to work five years in their field upon graduation. While the need for science and engineering positions in the United States has grown five times the rate of the civilian workforce as a whole since 1980, U.S. colleges and universities have experienced a steady decline in the number of American students earning science and engineering degrees. In 2000, Asian universities accounted for almost 1.2 million of the world?s science and engineering degrees, European universities (including Russia and eastern Europe) accounted for 850,000 and North American universities accounted for only about 500,000, according to the most recent statistics available to the National Science Foundation. America?s advantage in science is slipping. This bill is aimed at reversing that trend by attracting and retaining more math, science and engineering undergraduate students. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Samuel M. Rankin, III, Ph.D. Associate Executive Director American Mathematical Society 1527 Eighteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-588-1100 Fax: 202-588-1853