Speech #1010216551

There are several hundred thousand spouses and children of permanent residents on the waiting list. The enactment of this bill would greatly reduce the backlog. The provisions of the bill would also correct inequities against wouldbe immigrants of certain countries. Currently. most immigration is limited to families of recently arrived immigrants. Individuals from countries which are adversely affected by this policy will be able to become eligible for resident status if they have a firm offer of employment for 1 year and have been In the United States continuously since January 1. 1990. As a result. the flow of legal immigration will be restored from countries adversely affected by prior law. The bill allows 75.000 principals to enter the United States for employment in order to remedy critical labor shortages in specific fields. These immigrants will require employer attestation that U.S. workers will be recruited in the future and that the wages and working conditions of present U.S. workers are not adversely affected. The legislation also revises the terms and conditions under which foreign workers may come temporarily to the United States. Many of the provisions in this measure broaden the availability of visas to individuals to remedy U.S. labor shortages. Other changes in the bill modernize outdated laws or ease harmful consequences of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act. In summary. Mr. Chairman. H.R. 4300. as amended. is a reasonable and carefully drafted reform of our Nations legal immigration policy. I particularly want to congratulate the chairman of our Immigration. Refugees and International Law Subcommittee. the gentleman from Connecticut. for his tireless efforts in bringing this bill to the floor today. I would add one other thing to the Members: I would hope that we could handle all of the amendments today. Those that are acceptable we can agree to. those that are not. we can vote on. and we would preferably not have too many record votes and could finish this bill by 6 p.m.