Mr. Speaker. The H1B visa bills passed by the Senate and by the House Judiciary Committee both proposed to increase the quota of H1B temporary visas for foreign professional workers. Both bills responded to the fact that demand has exceeded the annual quota of 65.000 in each of the past two fiscal years. The reason for this increased demand is thought to be a shortage in Americas information technology workforce. While evidence for this shortage is inconclusive. it was my belief that we should give the industry the benefit of the doubt and grant the additional visas. The Senate and House Judiciary Committee bills did have large differences. The Judiciary Committee bill (H.R. 3736. which I introduced in my capacity as chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims) required that employers comply with two new attestations when petitioning for H1B workers. Employers would have had to promise not to lay off (displace) American workers and replace them with aliens on H1B visas. and to recruit American workers before petitioning for foreign workers. I felt that these protections for American workers were necessary because of the large number of documented abuses of the H1B programinstances of companies actually laying off Americans to be replaced by HiBs and companies recruiting workers exclusively from overseas. The Senate bill (introduced by Senator SPENCER ABRAHAM) contained no comparable provisions. With the assistance and support of the leadership of the House and Senate along with House and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairmen HENRY HYDE and ORRIN HATCH.
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H1B visa visas Immigration