Speech #1050192255

But the Smith substitute. I think. cuts the compromise just about right. It realizes that the people who are laid off in categories are different from the categories where the H1B visas are being hired. They are simply not the same. In high technology terms. the layoffs tend to be in the fabrication side. and the HlBs tend to be in the engineering side. That is exactly where we need to be importing. for temporary engineering purposes. that brainpower that might otherwise go to one of our competitor countries. The Smith substitute makes that cut perhaps roughly at 15 percent. Nevertheless it makes exactly the cut that we ought to between those are truly job shops and should be subject to an attestation requirement and should be subject to heightened Department of Labor scrutiny. because they are taking jobs away from Americans. and those legitimate American employers who need a temporary visa for someone to come in and provide the technological expertise that otherwise will diminish our competitive position. I close by observing that the economic benefit is as important as the preservation of the existing jobs. The first being new growth for new jobs. the second being the preservation of existing. Without the H1B. we will not. I think. be able to guarantee the growth of new jobs. Important as preserving the existing jobs are. we must do both. The Smith substitute recognizes both of those. A former constituent of mine. Andy Grove. came to this country as an immigrant. He founded Intel Corporation and he was Time magazines Man of the Year. This is the kind of talent that I would wish to come to our country rather. in Andy Groves case. than stay in Europe. At the end of this debate. this is only the first step. We must do far more to retrain American workers. I strongly support the provision in the Smith alternative that every H1B visa employer pay $500 that goes into a retraining and education fund for Americans so that they do not lose this opportunity in the long run. But even that is not enough. Legislation of my own supports a double deduction for retraining an American worker. not just the ordinary and necessary cost of doing business deduction but twice it. so that if you are retraining an American worker. you have an economic incentive from all of us that that person keep the job and keep the job in this country.