Speech #1010216566

Mr. Chairman. H.R. 4300. the Family Unity and Employment Opportunity Immigration Act of 1990. represents the first major reform of our Nations legal immigration laws since 1965 and would restructure the system for the admission of employment based immigrants. As reported by the Judiciary Committee. the bill contains numerous provisions that would impact on the supply of and the demand for labor including provisions that modify the existing categories for the admission of priority workers and other employmentbased aliens. revise the labor certification process in cases of demonstrated labor shortages. require the payment of fees for the admission of certain employmentbased aliens. and amend the Immigration Reform and Control Act. In todays labor climate. one of the goals of immigration legislation should be to make our system for the admission of aliens more responsive to our need for workers in labor shortage areas. Given the projections in the Workforce 2000 report that the availability of workers in certain occupations may be insufficient to meet the demand. we must begin to develop a strategy to insure that the American enterprise is not handicapped by a shortage of labor. Along with the improving the recruitment. training and education of American workers. our immigration policy can and should play an important role in that strategy. It is unclear whether H.R. 4300 does in fact make our legal immigration system more responsive to our labor needs. Several of the priority categories for the admission of employmentbased aliens are too narrowly defined to allow for the admission of workers with needed skills. The bill also contains a cap on the number of employmentbased nonimmigrants which will similarly limit the flexibility of U.S. companies to respond to changing labor needs.