Speech #1040203035

MO. And I reintroduced Senator SIMPSON to my father. Harry Specter. who was in his uniform. and I recounted that he emigrated from Ukraine. walking across Europe with barely a ruble in his pocket. At that point. Senator SIMPSON said to me he did not think he and I would agree too much on the pending imnigration legislation. I come to this issue from a somewhat different vantage point. My sense is that America is a big. broad. growing country and that we do have room for immigrants. I grew up in Kansas. I was born in Wichita and grew up in the small town of Russell. with wide open spaces like Wyoming. My sense is that it is not in the national interest to reduce immigration from 675.000 to 607.000. Both categories of imnigrantsthe familybased and the employmentbasedwill make a great contribution to our country. This is a country of immigrants. When we had the debate in the committee. Senator ABRAHAM started off with his immigrant background. Senator FEIqsT=I talked about her immigrant background and I talked about mine. and everybody on the committee could talk about it in one way or another because we are a country of immigrants. I understand the priorities for minor children and spouses. and. of course. these groups have to be the first priority. But I believe that when you talk about siblings and adult children. talk about family values and talk about having room for the families. that the figures are relatively modest. When we talk about illegal immigration. there is no doubt about the need to control our borders and to control illegal immigration. But when we talk about legal immigration. I think we are talking about something that is very. very different. When there is a proposal to reduce employmentbased visas by some 28.5 percent. from 140.000 a year to 100.000 for a period of 5 years. I must say that this is a fundamental mistake. In Pennsylvania. I have had many of my constituents come to me and say that there is a real need for these visas. that the immigrants who come here legally are very highly skilled. are Ph.D.s. are technicians. and they will be instrumental in creating more jobs. not in taking jobs. I have worked on the bill in committee to be sure that people who come in on these visas do not take existing jobs. that there has to be a premium payment and there has to be a care and consideration so they do not displace existing workers. but these highly skilled people will create more jobs. I was involved in this issue back in 1989 and 1990 on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce where I think we increased the number by about 40.000. The situation is so acute in my State. Pennsylvania. that I have held meetings in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia which were very. very well attended. At these meetings various companies having immediate needs for highly skilled people came in to comment to me about their opposition to the reduction in the number of visas. There is no doubt that there is concern about displacing U.S. workers. and I think we have to be careful not to do that. to make sure that does not happen by requiring a premium payment for those who come in as legal immigrants. I wanted to make these few brief comments. It is not an easy matter. When Senator SIMPSON and Senator KENNEDY are the managers and go through this bill and have very protracted hearings and a markup before the Judiciary Committee. it is a very large job. So. again. I compliment my colleagues on their work and do express my view that this legal immigration is something which will build a stronger America and provide more jobs. The humanitarian aspects have to be considered as we have the families who ought to have an opportunity to come into this country. Currently. the waiting period to enter the country is as long as 10 years for some family members.