Yesterday was a bad day for working Americans... the Employee Free Choice act failed to pass and cloture was invoked on the very worker unfriendly Immigration Bill...
Yet, things were looking deceptively brighter for working Americans. The Durbin-Grassley amendments that limited H1-B visa abuses were still in the bill. In addition, several other amendments would be up for consideration over the next few days:
Could this be too good to be true? It turns out that it is...
More on the flip.....
The following ammendments were to be considered:
McCaskill-Durbin-Grassley SA 1468
The current bill Language includes up to a two year ban on federal contracts, grants or cooperative agreements to employers who are repeat violators of hiring illegal immigrants. Senator McCaskill believes that the two-year ban is too weak. Her amendment would strengthen that language by banning repeat violators from federal contracts, grants and/or cooperative agreements for a minimum of five years. The Federal government should not condone the behavior of employers who knowingly violate our immigration laws by doing business with them.
SA 1332 Sanders-GrassleyAmmendment
Prohibits companies that have announced mass lay-offs from receiving any new visas, unless these companies could prove that overall employment at their companies would not be reduced by these lay-offs.
An uneasy peace came over me... Suddenly, this bill seemed almost palatable to working professionals... That can't be right... while the increase in H1B visas is certainly unacceptable, this bill would have significant restrictions associated with it... In fact, the tech industry is appalled at the status of the bill:
High-tech companies were surprised and upset by the bill that emerged last month from secret Senate negotiations. E. John Krumholtz, director of federal affairs at Microsoft, said the bill was "worse than the status quo, and the status quo is a disaster."
Anything the tech industry hates so much can't be that bad can it?
But, something was wrong.... things were too good to be true...
There was one amendment missing from the list.... the dreaded Kyl-Cantwell amendment:
Under the Kyl-Cantwell proposal, 20,000 green cards would be set aside each year for immigrants of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers and certain managers and executives of multinational corporations. The original bill would have eliminated the existing preference for such workers.
In addition, the amendment would give employers five years to adjust their hiring practices to the new "merit-based" point system for obtaining green cards.
This summary does not do the proposal justice... It has many loopholes that allow unlimited exceptions to the visa limits...
So, where was this amendment? Why wasn't it on the list?
It turns out that the Kyl-Cantwell amendment is being rolled into the Durbin-Grassley ammendments into one big package.
In other words, a vote for H1B protections is now a vote for unlimited H1B expansion!!!!!!!!
IT IS A TROJAN HORSE!!!!
The details are a bit hazy at the moment... these are all back room deals being done behind closed doors and the mainstream media completely ignores the devastating effects of these temporary worker programs on the American Middle Class.
One thing is for sure, the massive clout of the tech industry is going to present itself somehow, some way into this bill... whether it be by hook or crook... so, there is only one option left...
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS ASAP AND TELL THEM TO VOTE "NO" ON CLOTURE FOR S. 1639
Call.... Fax... FedEx... Do whatever you can!!!
THE VOTE IS TOMORROW (Thursday)... DO NOT DELAY!!!!!!
At this point, there seems to be no other choice... The future of America's middle class is in your hands!
Thanks,
Mike