Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 12:43:52 -0800 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: Feinstein follows her usual pattern To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter Sen. Feinstein is very skilled at having it both ways on H-1B. Here's her usual pattern: First she publicly plays "hard to get" when the industry lobbyists want an H-1B increase, then finally makes a big show of giving in and endorsing an increase, while telling U.S. citizen/permanent resident programmers and engineers, "I'm on your side, because I tried to limit the amount of the increase." You see this pattern once again in the article enclosed below. As anticipated (a better word would be _planned_), the Senate bill's provisions on undocumented immigrants is getting all the press, allowing the industry lobbyists to get outlandish increases in H-1B, and an even more outlandish addition of a new F-4 visa category, to pass by without much public scrutiny. Thus I'm pleased to see the San Jose Mercury News run the enclosed article. The article is balanced but its only coverage of the opposition to these bills is in one paragraph: But some high-tech workers argue that no increase is needed. They say that companies prefer less expensive foreigners to Americans and that part of the reason high-tech employment has improved the past two years is because the annual allotment of H-1B visas has gone down. No specific organization or individual is quoted here, no reference to Congress' own commissioned studies finding that abuse of the program is commonplace, no reference to academic studies, etc. Just as the undocumented immigrant parts of the bill are getting the lion's share of attention from the press, the same is true for the large organizations which have generally fought increases in H-1B and related measures. FAIR appears to have nothing on its lobbying Web page on the H-1B and F-4 provisions of the bill. NumbersUSA does have something on H-1B but nothing about F-4. The AFL-CIO's Dept. of Professional Employees is opposing both the H-1B increase and F-4, but as usual the AFL-CIO parent organization is mum on the issue. IEEE-USA is opposing the H-1B increase, but incredibly they are actually SUPPORTING the F-4 proposal. Norm http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14203710.htm Posted on Tue, Mar. 28, 2006 H-1B visa increase advances in Senate WOULD ALLOW MORE FOREIGN WORKERS IN U.S. By Jim Puzzanghera Mercury News Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - A Senate committee voted Monday to significantly increase the number of visas for highly skilled foreign workers as part of a controversial immigration bill that faces an uncertain future in Congress. Silicon Valley high-tech companies are strongly backing the proposed increase in H-1B visas, which currently are capped at 65,000 a year. Various exemptions in the program for certain types of jobs, such as those with non-profit organizations, mean that approximately 220,000 foreigners a year now actually receive the six-year visas. The proposal approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee would increase the annual cap from 65,000 to 115,000 beginning in 2007, while keeping all those existing exemptions. It effectively would boost the number of H-1B visas to nearly 300,000 a year. The plan, written by committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., also would automatically boost the annual cap by 20 percent after any year in which the federal government reaches the limit. And the legislation would create an unlimited number of F-4 visas for students pursuing advanced university degrees in science, technology, engineering or math, that would allow them to seek permanent residence in the United States if they find a job here. High-tech companies say they need more H-1B visas because the improving economy has made it difficult for them to find enough qualified Americans in fields such as math and engineering. ``Hopefully the pendulum is kind of swinging toward the understanding that these are the workers we want in the U.S. and want to keep in the U.S.,'' said Kara Calvert, director of government relations for the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group representing leading tech firms. But some high-tech workers argue that no increase is needed. They say that companies prefer less expensive foreigners to Americans and that part of the reason high-tech employment has improved the past two years is because the annual allotment of H-1B visas has gone down. During the dot-com boom, Congress twice approved a temporary increase in the number of H-1B visas, with the program topping out at 195,000 a year from 2001 to 2003. The allotment reverted in 2004 to its pre-1998 level of 65,000. But problems that originally led to the increased cap have returned. The federal government received so many applications for the 2006 allotment that it stopped accepting them on Aug. 12, more than two months before the fiscal year began. President Bush called on Congress in February to increase the annual cap, although he did not request a specific number. After a failed attempt to increase the H-1B visa cap to 95,000 last year, Specter included an increase in his immigration bill and boosted the number to 115,000. During a daylong session Monday, the committee voted 12-6 to approve the controversial immigration bill, which strengthens the Border Patrol and allows illegal immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship without first leaving the country. The full Senate is expected to begin debating the bill today. The Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 against a proposal by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, to increase the annual cap to 200,000, while eliminating all the various exemptions. ``I thought 115,000 was ample. I had no one say to me they needed a 200,000 cap,'' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has been lobbied by the tech industry to support an increase. Grassley argued that eliminating the exemptions would make the program easier to understand and would allow the visas to be issued based on market forces, not on pre-determined allotments for different employers. But Specter said Grassley's proposal would actually be a cut in the current number of visas with the loss of the exemptions. _________________________________________________________________ Contact Jim Puzzanghera at jpuzzanghera@krwashington .com or (202) 383-6043.