Thread: Commerce Nominee Gregg Favors H1-B Visa Expansion

This is just one of several recent articles describing how the nominee for Commerce Secretary Judd Gregg promotes replacement of skilled American workers.

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http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/ ... Expansion/

Commerce Nominee Favors H1-B Visa Expansion

Sen. Gregg Judd would bring a record to the Department of Commerce that
unabashedly endorses an expansion of H1-B workers for the technology
industry. That support, though, doesn't necessarily mean either the U.S.
House or Senate will move to expand the H1-B visa cap.

In Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), President Barack Obama's new nominee to run
the Department of Commerce, the tech industry has found their man when it
comes to expanding the H1-B visa program. The 61-year-old senator is an
unabashed fan of the program.

A favorite of American technology companies, the H-1B program is a
temporary work visa program allowing American companies and universities
to employ foreign guest workers who have the equivalent of a U.S.
bachelor's degree in a job category that is considered by the U.S.
Citizenship & Immigration Services to be a "specialty occupation." The
idea is to help companies hire foreign guest workers on a temporary basis
when there is not a sufficient qualified American work force to meet those
needs.

Gregg co-sponsored the H-1B Visa Program Modernization Act of 2007, which
would have increased the current H1-B visa cap of 65,000 to 150,000. The
unsuccessful effort would have also authorized a 20 percent increase of
that 150,000 cap in any fiscal year succeeding a year in which the cap was
met.

"One of the main concerns I hear from businesses in New Hampshire and
across the nation is a need for more highly skilled workers and that
current law is stymieing their ability to hire the workers they
desperately need," Judd said when introducing the legislation. "In today's
competitive global markets, the U.S. must be looking for ways to stay
ahead and these bills offer effective, common sense ways to do just that."

Gregg also voted against a bill introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
to ensure that employers make efforts to recruit American workers before
hiring foreign workers in addition to opposing legislation by Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) that would raise the fees from $1,500 to $10,000 for
employers who wish to import H1-B high-skill non-immigrant workers. The
increased funds would be dedicated to scholarships for American high tech
students.

"Helping the high tech industry tap into highly skilled talent from around
the world and address well-documented labor shortages not only keeps our
economy strong, but creates U.S. jobs and deters employers from sending
work elsewhere," Judd said.

Gregg's unabashed support of expanding the number of the H1-B workers in
the United States, though, hardly means an increase in the current cap is
in the offing from the 111th Congress. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a
frequent critic of the tech industry's use of the H1-B visa system, has
already staked out ground opposing the expanded use of H1-B visas.

'Obligation to Protect American Workers'

After Microsoft announced it was laying off some 5,000 workers, Grassley
promptly fired off a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wanting to know
if the company will be retaining H1-B workers rather than similarly
qualified American employees.

"My point is that during a layoff, companies should not be retaining H1-B
or other work visa program employees over qualified American workers,"
Grassley wrote in a Jan. 22 letter to Microsoft. "Our immigration policy
is not intended to harm the American work force. I encourage Microsoft to
ensure that Americans are given priority in job retention. Microsoft has a
moral obligation to protect these American workers by putting them first
during these difficult economic times."

In October, a report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services found that the H1-B program has more than a 20
percent violation rate. The fraud identified in the report included jobs
not located where employers claimed, H1-B visa holders not being paid the
prevailing wage, forged documents, fraudulent degrees and "shell
businesses." Nevertheless, the tech industry, led by Microsoft, continues
to seek an increase in the H1-B cap.

Even before the report was issued, Grassley, Durbin and Sanders were
seeking reform of the H1-B visa program. A bill introduced by Grassley and
Durbin would require employers to make a good faith effort to hire
American workers first. Employers would also have to show that the H1-B
worker would not displace an American worker.

The bill would require employers to advertise job openings on a Department
of Labor Web site before submitting an H1-B application. In addition, the
bill would give the Department of Labor a mandate to conduct random audits
of any company that uses the H1-B program and would require annual audits
of companies with more than 100 employees that have 15 percent or more of
those workers on H1-B visas.

"This is about protecting the American worker," Grassley said in a
statement accompanying the bill. "We're closing loopholes that employers
have exploited by requiring them to be more transparent about their
hiring, and we're ensuring more oversight of these visa programs to reduce
fraud and abuse. A little sunshine will go a long way to help the American
worker."

Open borders and more Hxx and Lxx visas while millions are unemployed and this government is about to force struggling taxpayers to subsidize a trillion dollar illegal alien cheap labor and benefits giveaway and Americans still rollover and take this crap from the crap masquerading as representatives of the American people........