Thread: C-Span 2 Discussing Byrd Amendment now

The Senate is debating the Byrd Amendment on C-Span 2 now.

Got the tail end of it but jumped on the phone to call Senators Dole and Burr and got my message through to them.

Byrd is speaking now. I thought I heard them say the vote will be at 6:00.

I could be wrong.

I think I just heard that there won't be a vote today. But, right now, the IDIOT CORNYN is speaking trying to convince us that this provision is a GOOD thing because it won't be OUTSOURCING JOBS. He is sitting there saying it is keeping the GOOD jobs in AMERICA. He's not saying that they are going to be given to FOREIGNERS. I hope everyone from his district refuses to reelect him.

That is so crazy how the Cheap Labor Lobby justifies the labor importation... They say it will prevent outsourcing, but if the jobs are only going to foreign citizens, then what difference does it make?

Also, the work visas actually facilitate outsourcing, in a couple of ways:
1) U.S. worker forced to train foreign replacement, which then takes the job back to their country of origin
2) Foreign worker used as a customer contact for an outsourcing operation... The estimate I've read is that for every work visa, there are 2 jobs that get outsourced... So, we lose 3 jobs per work visa - one lost job due to the work visa itself and two lost jobs for the outsourcing..

Also, Senator Cornyn said that companies are forced to pay a prevailing wage... But experts, like Norm Matloff, have determined that there are tons of loopholes which allow companies to underpay... And there's plenty of evidence that they do... The estimate is that there's about a 20% average savings from importing foreing labor.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/04/ ... ity_1.html

“It boils down to cheap labor,� he says... Matloff says that there are many ways to underpay H-1B workers.

Also, Senator Cornyn says they must advertise for a U.S. worker first, but the advertisements are phony... The advertisements list an impossible array of skills that no one person has and that don't have anything to do with the job... Furthermore, there's no enforcement to make sure that employers just don't throw away the resumes from qualified U.S. workers.

In fact, there's nothing in the law that prevents U.S. companies from forcing U.S. workers to train their foreign replacements and then getting fired... And companies do that.

Our beloved labor secretary Elaine Chao was an executive at Bank of America, which is notorious for replacing U.S. citizens with guest workers.

Finally, Senator Cornyn is not one to talk about protecting jobs... After all, he supports all the "Free Trade Agreements"... In Cornyn's speech he phrased it like this, "For those concerned about outsourcing, they should support this increase in labor importation.".. It doesn't sound like Cornyn is one of those concerned about "outsourcing".

Senator Cornyn sounds like he carefully memorized the talking points that were given to him by the corporate lobbyists who fund his re-election campaign... We don't need corporate spokespeople for Senators.

No wonder that Numbers USA gives him an F- on the "unnecessary FOREIGN-WORKER visas."... It's clear from his record that he thinks we're facing a "dire labor shortage" on all jobs, ranging from both the low skill to the high skill.
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/tes ... VIPID=1081

By the way, I'm pretty sure the vote on the Byrd Amendment is tomorrow... So, there's still time to call your senator... Tell your senator to vote in favor of the Byrd amendment... But if the Byrd amendment fails, then vote against the whole Budget Reconciliation Act, which goes by the number S. 1932.

That's EXACTLY what I told my Senators--either vote FOR the Byrd Amendment or vote AGAINST the whole mess. I finally turned Cornyn OFF because I was getting ready to get up and take a sledgehammer to the television. My blood pressure was out the roof. THAT MAN IS CRAZY and I am so INSULTED by these Senators who act like the American people are THAT STUPID that we would buy into his "Republican Talking Points". It is a disgrace to this nation and I have decided that I will NOT VOTE FOR ONE MORE REPUBLICAN EXCEPT HOWARD COBLE. I don't think I can vote for a Democrat either but, if I have to write in for every office, that's what I'm going to do. These people have gone so far off the deep end that there's no coming back.

I called the offices of our California gals. We'll see what happens.

Originally Posted by gingerurp

I called the offices of our California gals. We'll see what happens.

Originally Posted by Bootsie

That's EXACTLY what I told my Senators--either vote FOR the Byrd Amendment or vote AGAINST the whole mess. I finally turned Cornyn OFF because I was getting ready to get up and take a sledgehammer to the television. My blood pressure was out the roof. THAT MAN IS CRAZY and I am so INSULTED by these Senators who act like the American people are THAT STUPID that we would buy into his "Republican Talking Points". It is a disgrace to this nation and I have decided that I will NOT VOTE FOR ONE MORE REPUBLICAN EXCEPT HOWARD COBLE. I don't think I can vote for a Democrat either but, if I have to write in for every office, that's what I'm going to do. These people have gone so far off the deep end that there's no coming back.

Yea, I was barely able to tolerate listening to the Cornyn speech... I think many of these Senators know they're being dishonest, but they just don't care... Or they feel they have to lie and vote in favor of terrible bills in order to please their corporate masters.

My voting strategy is to work to remove all incumbents who are not doing a seperior job... There's really no reason that in a land of 300 million people, we can't get 535 people in Congress to represent us in both an honest as well as a competent way.

I will let all incumbents know why I'm voting against them... In this way, if the incumbent wins by a narrow margin and there are many other citizens saying the same thing, then the incumbent will hopefully listen a little more closely in the next term in office.

Also, I will let the other-party challenger know that my support is only because I want to get rid of the incumbent... And I will tell the challenger why... So, if the challenger gets elected and there are many other citizens saying the same thing, then the challenger will hopefully listen a little more closely than the previous politician.

I believe that politicians want to get re-elected... One problem is we re-elect the same people over and over again, no matter what they do... I've often repeated these statistics in this forum... In 2000, there was a 98% re-election rate in the U.S. House... In 2002, it was also 98%... In 2004, it was 99% (excluding the 4 seats lost to re-districting in Texas.)... If we keep re-electing them no matter what they do, then they will never care about what we think.

So, throw the bumbs out in 2006!!!!! This is something that would both feel good and would be good for our country too... ... (And be sure to let both the incumbents and challengers know why you're voting this way.)

I love your strategy, lost_mummy! Sounds like the perfect plan. Wouldn't it be a SCREAM if, after your telling them WHY you were voting against them, they actually lost by only YOUR VOTE??!! I would SHOUT!

Yep--we are going to be EXTREMELY selective in 2006. And, you are just SO RIGHT about, in a country the size of ours, there are BOUND to be 535 HONEST, INTELLIGENT and hard-working people who are willing to represent us in office. Wonder where they are??????????????

Originally Posted by Bootsie

I love your strategy, lost_mummy! Sounds like the perfect plan. Wouldn't it be a SCREAM if, after your telling them WHY you were voting against them, they actually lost by only YOUR VOTE??!! I would SHOUT!

It would be sweeeeeet!!!

Originally Posted by Bootsie

Yep--we are going to be EXTREMELY selective in 2006. And, you are just SO RIGHT about, in a country the size of ours, there are BOUND to be 535 HONEST, INTELLIGENT and hard-working people who are willing to represent us in office. Wonder where they are??????????????

Well, in every election cycle, I think there are some good people who run, but just don't have the support to get elected... I've never worked on any election campaign, but I get the impression that there are really not many volunteers, like maybe a couple dozen people or so... And yet, a House district has something like 200,000 households.

What if there were like a 1000 volunteers?.. Each person would just have to knock on 200 doors to reach every household in the district.

Of course, money is important, but volunteering could help to make up for some funding shortfalls... So, I'm going to look into dipping my foot into the water for 2006, so that I can get rid of my globalist representative Ray Lahood.

We tend to focus on the general election, but there are a lot of people who run in the primaries that nobody ever hears about... I bet there are some good ones there... So, I think everybody should try to get involved as early as possible... And be sure to vote too in the primaries.

I know that in mid-term general elections, only about 35% of the voting-age population actually votes... To put this in perspective, in last year's presidential election, we had about a 59% voter turnout... But in mid-term elections, every single House rep is up for re-election as well as something like 1/3rd of the Senators... So, these mid-term elections are important too.

I wonder how many people vote in mid-term primaries... It's probably much less... So, I think if people got more involved and encouraged others as well, then we could make a difference.

But right now everyone, make sure you call your senators early tomorrow on Thu, Nov 3rd and tell your senators to vote in favor of the Byrd amendment... But if the Byrd amendment fails, then vote against the whole Budget Reconciliation Act, which goes by the number S. 1932.