WASHINGTON-The House is set to begin debate this week on legislation to allow more highly skilled foreign workers into the United States, an initiative opposed by the White House and organized labor that would help the wireless industry to fill many key positions left vacant by the shortage of qualified high-tech specialists.
Just prior to the August recess, House and Senate Republicans reached agreement on different bills sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.). As such, the bill will not go to a House-Senate conference committee. Instead, if approved by the House, the bill will go directly to the Senate floor.
“This agreement is good for business, good for workers, good for America. It targets likely abusers of the system with stiff penalties,” said Smith when the compromise was reached in late July.
But Smith himself initially had serious reservations about high-tech immigration policy. He pointed out earlier in the debate that high-tech firms had laid off 142,000 American workers since January even as they lobbied for congressional approval to let in 120,000 foreign workers during the next three years.
Indeed, Smith commented at one point, “American companies should be more loyal to their own employees. If business executives will not protect the interests of American workers, then Congress should.”
According to Smith, Motorola Inc. laid off 15,000 employees between December 1997 and June 1998 while seeking 89 H-1B visas in 1997. Similarly, GTE Corp. laid off 1,500 employees during the same time period and sought 43 H-1B visas last year.
The White House, which still shares that sentiment, said it will veto the compromise bill because it did not go far enough to protect and train U.S. workers.
An administration aide late last week said the White House’s position had not changed. The White House prefers U.S. worker safeguards included in the bill passed by the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.
In May, the United States already hit its quota of 65,000 of H-1B visas for overseas high-tech professionals.
“It hits us right in the jugular. We have 25 to 50 job openings we cannot fill,” said Amy Stephan, vice president of TeleworX Group, a small wireless consulting firm in McLean, Va.
Backers of the immigration bill concede that earlier U.S. worker protection and job-training provisions have been watered down but insist the safeguards in the compromise bill are adequate.
The bill would require firms heavily dependent on foreign workers to certify they have recruited American workers and have not laid off an American worker to hire foreign workers.
“These same companies also will have to attest that they do not provide temporary workers to other companies who then use them to replace laid off workers,” said Smith, chairman of the House immigration panel. “If found to have done so, the companies could be fined and face debarment from using the H-1B program for one year.”
