Speech #1050207243

This past February. the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing at my request to examine high technology labor market needs. We heard from leaders at Americas top high technology firms that they simply could not find enough qualified professionals to fill the jobs they needed filled. They also emphasized that many of the individuals they hired on HlB temporary visas not only filled important jobs. but also typically created jobs for many Americans through their skills and innovations. At that time. the 65.000 cap on HlB visas was projected to be reached as early as June. Instead. it was reached the first week of May. In March. I introduced S. 1723. the American Competitiveness Act. to increase the cap on HlB visas for foreign born professionals. In April. that bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 12 to 6 bipartisan vote. Then in May. the bill passed on a 78 to 20 vote of the full Senate. Some time after that. the House Judiciary Committee passed out an HlB visa bill as well. However. many who supported the increase in principle found that the House version included so many conditions on the use of H1B visas that they would have more than negated the benefits of raising the cap. Negotiations ensued between the House and Senate over these provisions. brokered by the leadership of both chambers. The hope was to find a compromise. In the end. a compromise was reached that retained the core features of the Senate bill but also found common ground with the House by focusing increased attention and requirements on employers. more than 15% of whose workforce are in this country on H1B visas. The compromise also imposed a fee to be paid by the employer on each visa. the proceeds of which would be used for job training and scholarships. On account of this last provision. the compromise bill was required to originate in the House. Accordingly. it was incorporated into a proposed amendment. whose text was worked out by me and by House Immigration Subcommittee Chairman SMrrITa proposed amendment which Chairman SMITH was going to offer as a substitute to H.R. 3736. the bill that had passed out of House Judiciary. As the House was preparing to take that bill up before the August recess. however. the White House issued a public veto threat and listed 15 changes it was seeking to the bill. At that point.