bingo! - it's guest-worker time

Date: Monday, April 03, 2006 6:58 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

April 03, 2006 No. 1450

The Senate Judiciary approved immigration "reform" legislation that will
now go to the entire Senate to vote on. Embedded within the bill is a huge
increase in H-1B and F-4 visas. There is almost no mention of the H-1B
increase in the American press because the debate is obscured by pundits
who only want to discuss guest worker visas for low paid jobs such as farm
work. The conveniently forget the fact that not only low paying farm jobs
and landscaping are affected by guest worker visas. The Indian press is
well aware of the H-1B increase and doesn't mince words about what it
means:

United States Senate majority leader Bill Frist is hopeful that a
full vote in the upper house would clear a comprehensive
immigration reform bill that includes provisions for hefty
increases in the H1 B visas mainly availed by Indian IT
professionals.

Senators seem to be hell-bent on passing an immigration bill so the only
hope of stopping this H-1B juggernaut might be in the House. If Rep. J.D.
Hayworth is correct, we may be in trouble on that front also. Hayworth said
that right after Christmas break the House went to work, "and then,
post-Christmas - bingo! - it's guest-worker time."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0403azindc0403.html

Hayworth 'hates' to say it, but . . .

Apr. 3, 2006 12:00 AM

Rep. J.D. Hayworth says he hates to tell anyone "I told you so."

"But I told you so," said the Arizona Republican on Thursday. He did so
after House Republican leaders began signaling they may now consider a
guest-worker bill, after all, just as the Senate has started to do.

Back in December, most of Hayworth's Republican colleagues in the House
were beating their chests about having just passed a tough
border-enforcement bill in which they refused to include any guest-worker
provision for foreign workers or plan to let an estimated 12 million
undocumented immigrants gain legal status. advertisement

Hayworth, who voted against that bill, said then that he believed the
measure still did not go far enough toward stemming the tide of
undocumented immigration, and that more "enforcement teeth" were needed.

But Hayworth also had said he suspected that House measure was, in reality,
merely a charade orchestrated with the White House as a way to give House
members a tough border bill to crow about to their conservative bases as
they return home for the Christmas break, "and then, post-Christmas -
bingo! - it's guest-worker time."

Hayworth had predicted that House Republican leaders would return early
this year to Washington and wait for the Senate to address the politically
thornier issues, such as guest workers. Then, Hayworth had aid, those
leaders would probably allow a vote on bill containing a guest-worker
program by spring, gaining political cover by claiming the guest-worker
provision was forced on them by the Senate in return for the tighter border
controls.

Both chambers must agree on any final measure before it goes to the
president.

On Wednesday, Hayworth's scenario appeared to be playing out as House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was declining to rule out the idea of the
House taking up a Senate bill that would open the way for legal status and
citizenship for undocumented immigrants and establish a future guest-worker
plan.

"We're not going to discount anything right now. Our first priority is to
protect the border," Hastert had said. "And we also know there is a need in
some sections of the economy for a guest-worker program."

Though his prediction may be coming true, Hayworth and other House
conservatives said they will try to persuade Hastert to not negotiate with
the Senate if that chamber does pass a border bill that includes a
guest-worker plan.

Immigration summit

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., are among those
scheduled to join prominent business leaders, immigration experts and
Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza at an "Immigration Summit" on Tuesday in
Washington being held by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., U.S. Chamber of
Commerce Vice President Randy Johnson and immigration expert Tamar Jacoby
will be on hand for the public discussion at a time when proposals for
immigration reform, including a guest-worker plan such as the one advocated
by McCain and Kolbe, are being debated in the U.S. Senate.

Homeless bill

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson on Thursday urged
House members to back a Bush administration plan to consolidate three
homeless assistance programs being sponsored by Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Arizona.

Renzi's bill, the Homeless Assistance Consolidation Act (H.R.5041), would
consolidate three programs - supportive housing, Shelter Plus care and
Section 8 Single Room Occupancy - into a single program.

"Consolidation of these programs would provide more flexibility to
localities, fund prevention of homelessness, and dramatically reduce the
time required to distribute grant funds to groups combating homelessness,"
Renzi said Wednesday on the House floor.

The measure also provides incentives for communities to carry out permanent
housing activities and other services for the homeless, he said.

- Billy House

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/apr/03visa.htm

H-1B visas may be hiked: US Senate member

PTI | April 03, 2006 | 21:27 IST

United States Senate majority leader Bill Frist is hopeful that a full vote
in the upper house would clear a comprehensive immigration reform bill that
includes provisions for hefty increases in the H1 B visas mainly availed by
Indian IT professionals.

Ahead of a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee to look at immigration
issues like 'regularising' the nearly 12 million mostly Hispanic illegal
aliens, Frist said on Sunday that he hoped that the bill would clear the
full Senate this week, or before Congress heads for a two-week Easter
recess.

But there are those in the House of Representatives who have rubbished
Senate Judiciary Committee's proposals, especially on the guest worker
programme and an 'amnesty plan' that would eventually lead to citizenship
for illegals.

Some House members are saying the lower House may not even agree to a
conference committee to iron out differences in the language of the
immigration reform legislation.?

The House has nothing comparable to what the Senate Judiciary Committee has
recommended by way of highly skilled visas like the H1B. One apprehension
is that this proposal will be left behind at the Conference stage as it
happened last year.

But immediate focus is on the illegals and the Senate will have to first
come to terms with this. Divisions within the Republicans is even more
glaring. "I do not think we should legislate a track that gives a
privileged status to people who broke the law," Frist said.

"If somebody is here and they are a felon or multiple misdemeanors or
somebody who is not working, someone who has been here for a year... yes, I
think they had have to go back home," said Frist, the potential 2008
presidential candidate.

Senior members of the party are playing down the talk of a political
filibuster by the Republicans. "It would be political suicide for our party
to filibuster a comprehensive solution to a real problem facing America,"
remarked Senator Lindsey Graham, adding, "It would be political suicide to
ignore there are 11 million people, illegally undocumented, who are trying
to work and add value to our country."

Adding more vigour to the ongoing daily debate is a proposal by some
lawmakers to make English the official language of the US. "Multi-lingual
ballots encourage a linguistic divide in our nation and discourage
law-abiding immigrants from learning English to naturalise and assimilate
in to our society," said Congressman Steve King of Iowa, who has raised
this issue and prompted 56 others to propose language bills.

In the Senate also, lawmakers are pointing out that any immigration bill
has to go hand in hand with the English issue, which analysts said will
further fuel the debate.

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