I got this email this morning from the jobsdestruction.org website. They are following the H1-B visa bills currently going through Congress.
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1693 -- 5/27/2007>>>>>
President Bush just negotiated a compromise bill for a so-called
"Comprehensive Immigration Reform" bill (S. 1348). This new development is
a grave and immediate threat to all of us, and one of the reasons is
because the SKIL bill is embedded into the bill.
According to NumbersUSA analysts, only 15 Senators have agreed to vote
against it so the situation is quite dire. I hope all of you are working
with immigration reform groups to stop this monster. Roy Beck reported that
many Senators are telling staffers and other Senators that they are
inclined to vote for the giant Kennedy/Bush amnesty bill (S. 1348) next
week because they say they have been surprised at how few phone calls of
protest they've gotten during the last two months of highly-publicized
negotiations to create the amnesty. They are concluding that the citizens
of their states just aren't all that worked up about granting an amnesty.
And they're interpreting that as a green light to give corporations the
huge new supplies of legal foreign labor they desire.
Roy Beck's message is very clear -- so far not that many Americans are
protesting the bill. That better change real quick or we are all screwed!
A vote for cloture is expected by Monday. If cloture is passed then all
debate stops on amendments and the bill goes to a Senate vote. Since the
bill is almost identical the one that easily passed last year (S. 2611)
it's a safe assumption that S1348 will pass. The best way of keeping it
from passing is to ensure that the Senate gets involved in endless
bickering -- in other words cloture must be opposed.
I'm sure all of you know who the groups are you can work with to oppose
this travesty, but if you don't you can go to the links section the
JobDestruction website. If you want to work independently of the
immigration reform groups that's OK. Fortunately Dr. Gene Nelson has
provided some excellent tips on what you can do, which are including below.
Whatever you do, do something! If the SKIL bill becomes law, the American
middle class will be doomed to extinction.
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SUMMARY OF THE SKIL BILL (S. 1083)
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o H-1B Visas: Increases the annual cap of 65,000 to 115,000. Automatically
increases the new cap by 20 percent each year the cap is hit, and creates a
new exemption to the cap for anyone who has an "advanced degree in science,
technology, engineering, or math" from any foreign university. No provision
was included that would reduce the cap if the previous year's limit was not
met.
o Conversion of H-1B to Green Cards: Workers are eligible for green cards
and would be allowed to stay and work in the United States for as long as
it takes to process the green card application. As long as an H-1B visa
holder applies for a Green Card, he/she can stay in the U.S. forever, so
effectively H-1B will no longer be a temporary visa.
o Employment Based Green Cards: The bill would increase the annual cap on
employment-based green cards by more than 500 percent, upping the current
cap of 140,000 to 450,000 until 2016 and to 290,000 thereafter and
exempting all immediate family members that currently count against the cap
today (spouses, children and parents) from the newly escalated cap.
o F-4 Visas: This new visa is perhaps the most pernicious part of the Skil
bill. It allows foreign students to work as they go to school, and then to
look for work for up to two years after graduating. They are put on a fast
track to a Green Card if they do find work, so they don't even have to get
an H-1B first! The F-4 visa will put foreign students in direct competition
for scarce internships, which will make it much more difficult for American
students to work and study, and to find work after graduation. When you
think about it, if it was true that there is a shortage of workers with
advanced degrees, why do foreign graduates who are supposedly the "best and
the brightest" need two years to find a job?
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Immigration Reform Activism by Dr. Gene Nelson
If you are like me, the Senate proposals for so-called "Comprehensive
Immigration Reform" are giving you sleepless nights. Here's some concrete
actions that you can take that could be free, depending on your calling
plan, or almost free. It will take 3 to 4 hours, but will increase the
probability of you being employed in a few years. I'm inspired by Roy Beck
of NumbersUSA.com who reminded me of the need for our side to be active
NOW.
[Note from Rob: you can call your Congresscritters TOLL FREE by dialing
1-877-762-8762. Just ask for your Senator and the switchboard will plug you
right in.]
Step one: Write out a short script of the message that you want to tell to
our U.S. Senators. Their legislative aides understand all of the shorthand
in the message. Here's my bullet points:
- Oppose a cloture vote on S. 1348
- Oppose Amnesty (whatever it is called) and any increase in H-1B numbers
in S. 1348. These provisions were rejected last year in the House in S.
2611 after it was passed in the Senate.
- We need reforms in the H-1B visa program to protect U.S. citizen
workers, who presently have virtually no protections - like the reforms in
Senators Durbin and Grassley's S. 1035.
Step two: Print out the 1 page U.S. Senate Roster from the U.S. Senate
website at
http://www.senate.gov/...
Step three: Call each of the 100 Senators on the list and leave a message.
I started the calls at 10:45 PM PDT. I give my identification, my phone
number, and the time zone that I'm calling from. I give my bullet points. I
repeat my identification and phone number. Each call takes about 2 minutes
from start to finish.
Step four: Share your experiences with other activists and encourage them
to invest some time for a brighter future. We have until Monday, May 21 at
5:30 PM EDT to make a difference. We need to make our numbers count.
Gene A. Nelson, Ph.D.
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Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/...
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This is horrible legislation and must be stopped.