Thread: FAIR calls for support of Byrd Amend. to take out foreign

Federation for American Immigration Reform, Washington DC

November 1, 2005

URGENT ALERT!

SENATE VOTING TOMORROW ON AMENDMENT TO STRIP FOREIGN WORKER/IMMIGRATION INCREASE
FROM DEFICIT REDUCTION BILL

CALL YOUR SENATORS IMMEDIATELY AND URGE A YES VOTE FOR THE BYRD AMENDMENT

THIS JUST IN?Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) has decided to offer an amendment tomorrow to
the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005 (S. 1932) that will strip
out language added by the Judiciary Committee that sells out American workers by
expanding employment-based visas, H-1B high tech worker visas and accompanying
family members by an estimated 368,000 per year.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS IMMEDIATELY AND URGE A YES VOTE FOR THE BYRD AMENDMENT.
This will come up tomorrow, so we have less than 24 hours to make an impact. If you
call during business hours, ask to speak with or leave a message for the legislative
assistant handling immigration. If calling after business hours, please leave a
message on your senators' voicemail. Call the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121)
and ask to be connected, or find direct phone numbers here on our web site.
http://capwiz.com/fair/dbq/officials/

Sample Message:

"I am a concerned constituent calling to urge Senator (insert name) to vote in favor
of an amendment expected to be offered tomorrow to the Deficit Reduction Omnibus
Reconciliation Act of 2005 by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV). This amendment reverses
action taken by the Senate Judiciary Committee to increase revenue by selling over
368,000 American jobs a year to foreign workers and their families who will enter
the United States and stay permanently.

Sen. Byrd's amendment accomplishes even greater savings without making wholesale
changes to our immigration system by adopting the House Judiciary Committee proposal
to raise the fees on L-1 intra-company transferees to $1,500 per visa.

Please vote yes when this amendment comes up for consideration. If not, one of the
largest immigration increases in American history will be passed without a public
hearing or proper debate under the guise of deficit reduction."

Background/Amendment Details:

Last week, without a public hearing or even a warning, the Senate Judiciary
Committee inserted language authored by Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) that increases revenue by selling over 368,000
American jobs a year to foreign workers and their families who will enter the United
States and stay permanently.

The Specter/Kennedy language would increase the number of H-1B workers by 30,000
each year, increase the number of permanent employment-based visas by 90,000 each
year, and exempt families of these new workers from the 140,000 annual cap on
employment-based immigration. This will add an estimated 278,000 family members -
many of them will also find jobs in the United States - to the number of high tech
and permanent new foreign workers allowed under the plan. If enacted, the Specter
plan would constitute one of the largest immigration increases in American history
under the guise of deficit reduction.

The Committee was charged with finding $60 million in FY 06 and $300 million over
the period between FY 20006 and FY 2010. The Specter/Kennedy language raises fees on
H-1B and permanent employment-based visas charged to employers to accomplish
savings. Sen. Byrd's amendment strips out the Specter/Kennedy language and replaces
it with the House Judiciary Committee proposal to raise the fees on L-1
intra-company transferees to $1,500 per visa.

What is clear enough from the Senate Judiciary Committee's action is that it is a
thinly disguised plan deliberately concocted to hide a major immigration expansion
in the name of reducing the deficit. Sen. Byrd's amendment properly finds required
savings without making wholesale changes to our immigration system.