By MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:58 PM ET May 25, 2006


WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Business groups don't think the Senate's version of a wide-ranging immigration bill is perfect, but they like it a lot better than the border-enforcement bill passed by the House in December.
The Senate in a 62-36 vote Thursday afternoon approved a bill that would create a guest-worker program, tighten the border and, most controversially, give millions of illegal immigrants already in the country the chance to eventually gain U.S. citizenship. See full story.
"While some significant issues remain to be resolved, this legislation meets our major priorities and we are hopeful that our concerns can be resolved by House and Senate conferees," said Randel Johnson, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a written statement.
The Chamber has spearheaded a fight against the House version of the bill, which would require employers to verify the legal status of all existing employees as well as new hires. It would also make all illegal aliens currently in the country felons, offering neither a path to citizenship nor a guest-worker program.
The Business Roundtable, a group made up of the CEOs of the nation's largest corporations, and the National Association of Manufacturers, or NAM, praised provisions in the Senate bill that would make changes to the employment-based Green Card system and also increase the number of H-1B visas for skilled workers from 65,000 to 115,000 by 2007. Some immigrants with advanced decrees would be exempt from the caps.
"The Senate should be commended for recognizing that many U.S. companies rely on highly educated foreign nationals, and that current policy governing this situation is in dire need of reform," said Business Roundtable President John J. Castellani.
The Senate bill also toughens employer-verification requirements. It would require employers to use a new online system to verify the legal status of new hires, and would boost fines for employers who hire illegal workers.
NAM President John Engler said his members are in favor of electronic verification, but pointed to worries about potential bugs in the system.
"While we support the move to electronic verification, there is still much work to be done to ensure that the system is easy to use, reliable, and expedites the employment verification process," Engler said. "Employers should not be subject to fines and penalties until the system is clearly functioning."




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