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San Francisco Chronicle

Bill to Boost Tech Visas Sails Through Congress
Clinton expected to sign popular measure
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau Wednesday, October 4,
2000
_________________________________________________________________

Washington -- After months of stalemate, a bill to nearly double the
number of temporary visas for skilled high-tech workers was
overwhelmingly approved yesterday by the Senate and the House.

The measure now goes to the White House, where President Clinton is
expected to sign it.

The swift action belied a ferocious political struggle over increasing
the number of so-called H-1B visas for workers holding bachelor's
degrees -- most of whom come from India and China -- from the current
115,000 a year to 195,000 for the next three years.

The quick House action -- a voice vote on the Senate bill, with no
objection -- took even sponsors by surprise, but the 96-to-1 vote in
the Senate had created huge momentum for the bill's passage. House
Republican leaders said the bill had been bogged down for so long that
the time was ripe to push through one of Silicon Valley's top
priorities.

The legislation had been stalled since spring and had faced five
filibusters in the last few weeks by Senate Democrats, who tried to
attach an immigration measure to legalize an estimated 1 million
mainly low-skilled Latinos.

But the votes on final passage made it clear that few on Capitol Hill
dare cross high-tech companies on an issue of keen importance to them.

``Once it's clear (the visa bill) is going to get through, everybody
signs up so nobody can be in the position of being accused of being
against high tech,'' said Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, after the vote.
``There were, in fact, a whole lot of folks against it, but because
they are tapping the high-tech community for campaign contributions,
they don't want to admit that in public.''

The current cap was reached in March, and executives argued that the
H-1B program is so backlogged that it would ``melt down'' by January
unless an increase is passed this year. Without legislation, the cap
will fall to 107,500 this fiscal year and 65,000 next year.

Tech companies contend they face a shortage of 300,000 workers and a
1.4 percent unemployment rate in the information technology industry.
If they cannot draw the needed workers from abroad, they say, they
will have to move facilities and research overseas.

Labor unions dispute this, saying tech companies discriminate against
older workers and minorities and that the H-1B visas are used to hold
down wages for American workers.

The H-1B increase had enjoyed broad bipartisan support until the
Clinton administration pressed to link the increase in high-tech visas
with amnesty and green card provisions for undocumented Central
Americans and other Latino immigrants. The White House move swiftly
quashed all progress on the H-1B bill.

Democrats spent the past two weeks on the Senate floor accusing
Republicans of ignoring Latino concerns in their efforts to increase
H-1B visas for high-tech workers.

They gained the backing of unions, as well as the retail,
construction, hotel and motel, restaurant, nursing home and other
industries which said that their shortages of low-skilled workers are
just as desperate as those of the high-tech companies.

Republicans accused Democrats of using the measure as a ploy to paint
GOP legislators as anti-Latino in an election year.

Yet once it became clear that the linkage with Latino immigration
might actually kill the visa bill, Democrats abandoned the effort.
They now vow to attach the measure, called the Latino and Immigrant
Fairness Act, to the must-pass appropriations for the Commerce,
Justice and State departments.

The White House has threatened to veto the appropriations bill if it
does not include the Latino measure, and Democrats say they have the
votes to sustain it.

Included in the H-1B legislation are several key provisions -- such as
lifting the cap for recent foreign graduates receiving a master's
degree or higher from a U.S. university -- that are nearly as
significant as the visa increase itself.

High-tech executives applauded the measure, saying they face critical
worker shortages that must be addressed by foreign workers until the
U.S. educational system begins producing more home-grown candidates.

``The long-term solution to the severe shortage of highly skilled
workers is to continue developing our own domestic workforce through
education and training efforts,'' said John Gage, chief researcher for
Sun Microsystems. ``In the meantime, employing highly skilled foreign
workers -- many of whom have been trained at U.S. universities -- is
something we must continue to do.''

Sun executives have stated several times that they would be ``taking
names'' if politicians succeeded in blocking the H-1B increase.

The same explosive debate over Latino immigration had stymied the H-1B
bill in the House, but all roadblocks suddenly lifted after the Senate
passed the measure.

``I'm a little bit surprised we're standing here tonight,'' said Rep.
Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, chief co- sponsor of the House version along
with David Dreier, R-Covina. Lofgren said she was standing in line at
a store to buy a new computer when she got word that the vote was
called. ``I'm glad I was able to get into the carpool lanes and get
here in time to talk about why this bill deserves our support.''

Dreier, who just a few weeks ago was not on speaking terms with
Lofgren, praised her yesterday.

``I extend my appreciation to Zoe Lofgren,'' Dreier said. ``We've gone
through some bumpy times, but we have come together again to accept
this very, very great piece of legislation.''

Lofgren said the Senate bill was better than their own, given its
provisions to allow H-1B workers to change jobs more easily and to
mitigate the effect of per-country quotas that most affects visa
holders from India.

Time is so short before Congress' adjournment in mid-October that
House GOP leaders considered it essential to pass identical bills in
the House and Senate rather than try to meld two competing versions
and then move it through both chambers again.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., voted for the bill and joined other
Democrats in insisting on the Latino provisions. Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., was a co-sponsor of the H-1B bill and strongly
applauded its passage. Feinstein did not cast a vote, however, because
she was recuperating in San Francisco from surgery on a broken leg.
The lone no vote came from Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C. Sens. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman,
D-Conn., did not vote.
_________________________________________________________________

BILL'S PROVISIONS

The H-1B visa bill:

-- Increases the number of H-1B visas from the current cap of 115,000
a year to 195,000 a year for the next three years. It also eliminates
this year's applications backlog.

-- Exempts from the cap: individuals who work or receive a job offer
from an institution of higher education, affiliated nonprofit research
institution or government research organization; individuals who
recently received a master's or higher degree from a U.S. university
or college; and university faculty and researchers.

-- Extends H-1B status beyond the six-year time limit for workers
seeking permanent residency who are caught in processing backlogs of
at least one year.

-- Removes per-country caps -- applicable mainly to India -- on
workers seeking permanent employment-based visas if additional visas
are available in other employment-based categories.

-- Increases ``portability'' of H-1B visas by allowing workers to
change employers when paperwork is filed with new employer, rather
than waiting until application is approved.

-- Retains a $500 fee for each application related to an H-1B visa;
money to go toward scholarships for low-income students and training
for U.S. workers.

-- Creates a variety of programs to improve education and training of
U.S. workers, especially in mathematics, engineering and computer
science. Includes a $20 million grant to the Boys and Girls Clubs to
fund after-school technology programs.

-- Returns fraudulently issued visas to the pool.

-- An amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also establishes a
special account to encourage the Immigration and Naturalization
Service to speed processing of all immigration-related applications.

E-mail Carolyn Lochhead at clochhead@sfchronicle.com
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10/03/2000 - Congress passes bill to bring in 600,000 more skilled
immigrants .

10/03/2000 - Congress passes bill to bring in 600,000 more skilled
immigrants .

08/25/2000 - Plan to Boost Tech-Worker Visas Is Victim of
Election-Year Politics .

05/12/2000 - Clinton Plan Would Nearly Double Tech Visas.


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