Speech #1010249414

I know that I would. and I have spoken in this very spot for that kind of legislation. and for legislation that would address the problem of the El Salvadorans. which Mr. MOAKLEY has pursued with such vigor. I think they would agree with all of us that those are part of our heritage of an immigration policy which is focused on family unity. on refugees. on persons fleeing persecution and on policies that pursue the national interest. But this bill goes far. far beyond that. In fact. in this bill. which was crafted In the waning hours of the session. the conference committee has imposed upon us the burden of considering legislation today that takes up matters that I think are offensive to the American people and should be offensive to us if we analyze the bill in light of the needs of our country today. The bill increases employmentbased immigration to 140.000 people. people who are going to come into this country for the purpose of taking skilled jobs. That is based on the premise that somehow we have a labor shortage in a country with a 6percent unemployment rate that we know does not really count all the unemployed. and in a country that does not do an adequate job of training its unemployed. In fact. what we are doing today. if this bill passes. is saying the unemployment policy is going to bethe job shortage policy is going to beto import people to take the jobs. not to train the Americans who are here already who are well able to do this work if we could simply give them access to that kind of training. Second. the bill now includes a provision which this House rejected in committee and which I think the vote on the rule last night also rejected. and that is. the highly offensive provision which says that we are now going to say that we will set aside 10.000 visas for people who come into this country who qualify for those visas on the sole basis that they are millionaires. The bill now says if you have a million dollars to invest in this country and create 10 jobs. come on in. Or. if you have $500.000 that you will invest in a rural area to create 10 Jobs. come on in.