Speech #1090084851

President. I thank the manager of the bill and the ranking member. I wanted to speak in opposition to the amendment filed by the distinguished Senator from West Virginia that would strike the Judiciary Committees H1B visa provisions and insert a prior amendment. the Sessions amendment. that actually was defeated in the Judiciary Committee. This. of course. is an attempt by the Judiciary Committee to comply with the reconciliation instructions to generate some additional funds to meet the budgetary requirements of the budget resolution. This is a part of the reconciliation process with the Judiciary Committee to come up with some savings funds to meet the instructions of the Budget Committee. The Judiciary Committee decided to sweep all of the unused HlB visas for the last few years and to use that as a means to satisfy the reconciliation instructions. The ability to track and retain the best talent around the world is a major factor in American competitiveness. Arbitrary caps on employmentbased green cards and temporary visas for highly trained workers hurt our ability to track and keep that talent and ultimately jobs here in the United States. In other words. for all of those who are concerned about outsourcing jobs out of America to other countries ought to be in favor of this Judiciary Committee provision and be opposed to the amendment filed by the distinguished Senator from West Virginia. It will keep jobs here in America rather than export them to places like India and China. The Judiciary Committee in the House met its budget reconciliation obligation by imposition of a $1.500 fee on L1 visas. The L1 visa is used by multinational companies to transfer executives. managers. and employees with specialized knowledge. This additional fee would not be used to improve processing or otherwise provide relief on other pressing immigration issues such as the H1B cap being reached 2 months before the fiscal year even began or 2 months after it began. That proposed solution by the distinguished Senator from West Virginia will do nothing to address that critical need of the American economy. Restoring access to the previously allocated H1B visas will not only make significant strides toward deficit reduction through the additional fees that will be charged but also raise significant additional sums for scholarships and training of U.S. workers. It will also provide additional money for enforcement against fraud in the immigration system. The fact of the matter is the United States of America is not training a sufficient number of engineers and scientists. In 2001. only 8 percent of all degrees awarded in the United States were in engineering. mathematics. and the physical sciences. which is more than a 50percent decline since 1960.