Thread: <<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1789 --

This issue highlights how foreign interests have gained better access to our elected officials than ordinary citizens. It's from Rob Sanchez, www.jobdestruction.org

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1789 -- 11/29/2007 >>>>>

A substantial lobbying campaign by a coalition of Indian-American special interest groups took place in Washington DC in October of 2007. Details are almost non-existent, but I have been able to piece together a few things that occurred. There is virtually nothing on the internet about this lobbying campaign, so the information is somewhat sketchy, and could contain minor factual errors.


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Major organizations that participated
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Indian American Forum for Political Awareness http://www.iacfpa.org/

http://www.nfia.net/index.html
National Federation of Indian-American Associations

http://www.gopio.net/
The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin

http://immigrationvoice.org/
Immigration Voice

http://www.usinpac.com/
US India PAC


It's important to understand that these groups are not homogeneous. Agendas and emphasis on issues were dependent upon which group managed each particular event. For many of the participants the meetings were more of a social event where people shook hands and took photos. For others though, it was far more than fun and games -- it was their chance to exert influence on Congress and the White House.

The NFIA represented an older demographic of Indian Americans who had fully integrated into American society and wished to preserve their lifesyles by limiting immigration. Many of the NFIA people had children and were worried that the continued influx of cheap labor would affect their future careers.
As Richard Tax of the American Engineering Association wrote: "Today’s Immigrant - Tomorrow’s Victim".

USInPac, IAFPA, and ImmigrationVoice were younger and more concerned with expanding H-1B and green cards than other issues. There was a clear generation gap between those Indians who were first or second generation citizens, and those that were Indian nationals with visas.

H-1B and immigration weren't the only issues of concern either. Other hot topics included the following:

* Discussions on searches of Sikhs who wear turbans to airports.
* Race related hate-crimes against various portions of the Hindu/Indian/Muslim/Pakistan community.
* The Nuclear technology treaty.
* US-India relations under Bush and their hopes for the future.


The following is a brief summary of the itinerary and what happened.

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Congressional Luncheon (10/18/2007)
Rayburn 2168 11:00am-2:30pm
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The NFIA has organized a Washington DC event every year for about 25 years.
The luncheon was mostly a social event and probably less organized than the meetings that followed it. Ostensibly this meeting was to socialize but there was more to it than meets the eye. Indian cuisine probably wasn't on the mind of the politicians who attended as much as the fragrant aroma of cash. If there is any doubt in your mind about the capabilities of USINPAC to spread the payola go to this page to see pictures of our politicians as they pig out at the trough:

http://www.usinpac.com/photo_gallery.asp

Unfortunately a complete list of attendees isn't available. There were Republicans that attended but I don't have their names (note: I'm not picking on Democrats). The following Representatives were definitely at the
luncheon:

McDermott (D-WA)
Ackerman (D-NY)
Berman (D-CA)
Honda (D-CA)
Hoyer (D-MD)
Levin (D-MI)
Pallone (D-NJ)
Meeks (D-NY)
Van Hollen (D-MA)
Davis (D-Il)
Royce (R-CA)



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White House Briefing Gold Room
10/18/2007 3:30pm-5:00pm
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The purpose of the White House briefing was to have a dialogue with Bush's people.

Bush staff in attendance:

1) Brian McCormack
2) Todd Bronstein
3) Deborah Nirmala

H-1B was the major issue of this event. The Bush staffers gave boiler plate speeches on the importance of guest worker visas. They also talked about how hard they had tried in their individual ways to get an expansion of visas and they lamented the fact that the Comprehensive Immigration Bill went down in flames.


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Indian-American Forum on Political Awareness (IAFPA) Rayburn Bldg, 5:30pm-10:00pm
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Most of the legislators from the luncheon attended as well as a few Senators such as Cornyn (R-TX).

Rep. Pallone, founder and co-chairman of the Congressional India Caucus, addressed the group. Much to the disappointment of his audience Pallone said that they should not expect any progress on their immigration issues until after 2009. He said the debate is too politically heated to make progress. This was a stunning admission from a politician that has accepted generous amounts of cash donations from many of those who were sitting in the crowd. Pallone must have been biting his tongue when he confessed that he failed to deliver the goods!

Senator Cornyn didn't offer the crowd comfort either -- he echoed what Pallone said. Cornyn complained that many of his colleagues have suffered politically following fax and phone call blitzes to their offices by angry voters. Cornyn must have been referring to various fax programs run by groups such as NumbersUSA, CAPS, JBS, and Washtech. Cornyn's complaints should encourage and inspire all of you that have had doubts about the efficacy of the fax programs that they do work and they are heard on Capitol Hill.

Cornyn blabbered a lot about the need to "educate" the American public so that they will accept more H-1B visas. That's quite funny because it seems that there are at least a few Americans who are educated on the subject, as evidenced by the fax blitzes that Cornyn whined about.

In conclusion, the Indian lobby groups probably didn't get much satisfaction for their efforts on the H-1B and green card issues. They still haven't won an increase, but on the other hand, the cap of 85,000 a year (not including exempts) hasn't been reduced either. No meaningful reforms that would help American workers such as the Pascrell bill have been passed, and visas such as L-1 are still unlimited.

These ethnocentric special interest groups have at least succeeded in maintaining the status quo. If there are no changes they win, even if it's not at the rate they would prefer.

The lobbying campaign was pulled off for a mere $2,000. That's quite impressive considering the large number of politicians they got access to.
Their largest expense was to cater the food at the Rayburn House.
Participants paid for their own travel and lodging. They kept the expenses down by getting group rates at cheap motels like the Comfort Inn which cost around $60 per night.

It goes without saying that these organizations have members and a constituency who not only have a good understanding of our political system but also have the motivation to spend the time and effort necessary to make the event happen.

Contrast the efforts of the Indian lobbyists to that of American high-tech workers.

So far, after almost 18 years of H-1B, there hasn't been a single large scale face-to-face lobbying effort in Washington DC to counter the cheap labor lobby, although there have been some heroic efforts by a few individuals who have gone to Washington DC at their own expense to battle on the behalf of high-tech workers.

We can only speculate why high-tech workers have remained so silent. Most of the Americans who are affected by H-1B, and who seem to have everything to lose by not taking action, seem to be in an apathetic malaise, and perhaps they are still overly optimistic about their future career prospects. Meanwhile at least 300,000 American jobs are lost every year to H-1B, L-1, and EB green cards.

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http://www.gopio.net/news_110107.htm

NFIA CONGRESSIONAL LUNCHEON AND THE WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING A SUCCESS

The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA), an umbrella organization comprising of more than 200 association members representing
2.3 million American who trace their roots to India held a Congressional Luncheon attended by over a dozen Congressmen at the Capital Hill on October 18, 2007. It was followed by a White House Briefing in the Gold Room of the Rayburn House Office Building.


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

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:lZ ... news_lates
t.htm+rayburn+%22october+18,+2007%22+McDermott&hl= en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl
=us

(Note from Rob: This page has two pictures of the luncheon meeting)

NFIA CONGRESSIONAL LUNCHEON AND THE WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING A SUCCESS

The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA), an umbrella organization comprising of more than 200 association members representing
2.3 million American who trace their roots to India held a Congressional Luncheon attended by over a dozen Congressmen at the Capital Hill on October 18, 2007. It was followed by a White House Briefing in the Gold Room of the Rayburn House Office Building.

NFIA delegates a the Capital Hill (above) and at the White House (below)

On the following day, Ambassador Ronen Sen hosted lunch for the NFIA delegates.

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

http://www.iafpe.org/Downloads/25th_ann ... _flyer.pdf

Indian American Forum

For Political Education
25th Anniversary Celebration

October 18, 2007
The Capital Hill, Washington DC

Click here to Register and Buy Tickets

Program:



4:15-5:00 pm Registration

5:00-6:00 pm Panel of appointed IA's

Panelists:

Anoop Prakash, Assoc. Administrator, S.B.A; Natwar Gandhi, CFO, City of Washington,DC; Richard Verma, Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Sen Reid; Prakash Khatri, CIS, Ombudsman, US Dept of Homeland Security; Arshi Siddiqui, Chief Economic Aide to Speaker Pelosi; Dino Teppara, Chief Aide to Cong Wilson; Korok Ray, Council of Economic Advisors, The White House.




6:00-7:00 pm Panel of US Congressmen

Panelists: Cong McGovern (MA); Cong. Wilson (SC); Cong. Pellone (NJ); Cong.
Davis (VA)



7:00-9:00 pm Reception and Keynotes

Keynote: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (invited)



Venue: Rayburn House Office Building (B 338/339)



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/shameh1b/ ... onNews.htm

Mornin' BR,

Cornyn blabbered a lot about the need to "educate" the American public so that they will accept more H-1B visas.

So Cornyn is going to educate his constituents (or orchestrate such)? Senator, it isn't supposed to work that way! Politicians are supposed to listen to constituents and learn from constituents!

Damn, Senator, you oughta be ashamed! Get off that damn Hillary bandwagon and start earning your paycheck.
You're NOT DOING YOUR JOB, Senator!

[color=pissed] ANY SENATE STAFF MEMBERS READING THIS WEBSITE?
YES? NO? AFRAID TO ADMIT IT?
Click the "Post Reply" button below,
it looks like this:

I like that orange sign - sums it up pretty good.

Hi B.R.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

I like that orange sign - sums it up pretty good.

I believe I linked to it from the
http://www.zazona.com
website; the one I will design will be more disrespectful of the H1Bs and their visas.

You mean it's possible to be more disrespectful of the Great American Worker Replacement Program than you already are?