Obama stimulus cash goes to foreign workers



by Conn Carroll Senior Editorial Writer
October 21, 2011 9:26am
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A Labor Department Inspector General report released this week found that $7,140,782 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds went to four Oregon forestry services firms who hired no U.S. workers. From the report:

Only two Oregonians were listed on the employer recruitment reports, indicating that workers in Oregon were likely unaware these job opportunities were available. In fact, although 146 U.S. workers were contacted by the three employers regarding possible employment, none were hired. Instead, 254 foreign workers were brought into the country for these jobs.

The Labor OIG even interviewed local workers to find out why no Americans were hired. The OIG reports:

We spoke with two workers who reported that the employer used discouraging language, such as references to age and the ability to speak another language, which are not valid conditions of employment.

Reached for comment by The Oregonian, there was bipartisan anger at the what OIG found. "This is a timber area and we hadn't been cutting trees for years," Republican state Sen. Chris Telfer told the paper. "It really ticked off a lot of people here."

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who asked the OIG to investigate the program in September 2010, was also displeased: "The goal of the stimulus bill was to put Americans back to work, not foreign nationals. ... Oregonians have been logging for over a century, our workforce is one of the best in the world, and these contracts should have been awarded to companies that hire Oregon loggers."

This is not the first time President Obama's policies have killed Oregonian jobs. In July, the Obama administration rescinded a Bush administration plan to double logging in Western Oregon. “Communities throughout western Oregon are facing extreme economic dislocation that has been compounded by a lack of timber coming from the BLM forests--southwest Oregon has become a sacrifice zone for this Administration,â€