DC lobbying campaign by Indian special interest groups

Date: Thursday, November 29, 2007 2:56 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1789 -- 11/29/2007 >>>>>

A substantial lobbying campaign by a coalition of Indian-American special
interest groups took place in Washington DC in October of 2007. Details are
almost non-existent, but I have been able to piece together a few things that
occurred. There is virtually nothing on the internet about this lobbying
campaign, so the information is somewhat sketchy, and could contain minor
factual errors.

Major organizations that participated

Indian American Forum for Political Awareness http://www.iacfpa.org/

http://www.nfia.net/index.html
National Federation of Indian-American Associations

http://www.gopio.net/
The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin

http://immigrationvoice.org/
Immigration Voice

http://www.usinpac.com/
US India PAC

It's important to understand that these groups are not homogeneous. Agendas
and emphasis on issues were dependent upon which group managed each particular
event. For many of the participants the meetings were more of a social event
where people shook hands and took photos. For others though, it was far more
than fun and games -- it was their chance to exert influence on Congress and
the White House.

The NFIA represented an older demographic of Indian Americans who had fully
integrated into American society and wished to preserve their lifesyles by
limiting immigration. Many of the NFIA people had children and were worried
that the continued influx of cheap labor would affect their future careers.
As Richard Tax of the American Engineering Association wrote: "Today s
Immigrant - Tomorrow s Victim".

USInPac, IAFPA, and ImmigrationVoice were younger and more concerned with
expanding H-1B and green cards than other issues. There was a clear generation
gap between those Indians who were first or second generation citizens, and
those that were Indian nationals with visas.

H-1B and immigration weren't the only issues of concern either. Other hot
topics included the following:

* Discussions on searches of Sikhs who wear turbans to airports.
* Race related hate-crimes against various portions of the
Hindu/Indian/Muslim/Pakistan community.
* The Nuclear technology treaty.
* US-India relations under Bush and their hopes for the future.

The following is a brief summary of the itinerary and what happened.

Congressional Luncheon (10/18/2007)
Rayburn 2168 11:00am-2:30pm

The NFIA has organized a Washington DC event every year for about 25 years.
The luncheon was mostly a social event and probably less organized than the
meetings that followed it. Ostensibly this meeting was to socialize but there
was more to it than meets the eye. Indian cuisine probably wasn't on the mind
of the politicians who attended as much as the fragrant aroma of cash. If
there is any doubt in your mind about the capabilities of USINPAC to spread
the payola go to this page to see pictures of our politicians as they pig out
at the trough:

http://www.usinpac.com/photo_gallery.asp

Unfortunately a complete list of attendees isn't available. There were
Republicans that attended but I don't have their names (note: I'm not picking
on Democrats). The following Representatives were definitely at the
luncheon:

McDermott (D-WA)
Ackerman (D-NY)
Berman (D-CA)
Honda (D-CA)
Hoyer (D-MD)
Levin (D-MI)
Pallone (D-NJ)
Meeks (D-NY)
Van Hollen (D-MA)
Davis (D-Il)
Royce (R-CA)

White House Briefing Gold Room
10/18/2007 3:30pm-5:00pm

The purpose of the White House briefing was to have a dialogue with Bush's
people.

Bush staff in attendance:

1) Brian McCormack
2) Todd Bronstein
3) Deborah Nirmala

H-1B was the major issue of this event. The Bush staffers gave boiler plate
speeches on the importance of guest worker visas. They also talked about how
hard they had tried in their individual ways to get an expansion of visas and
they lamented the fact that the Comprehensive Immigration Bill went down in
flames.

Indian-American Forum on Political Awareness (IAFPA) Rayburn Bldg, 5:30pm-
10:00pm

Most of the legislators from the luncheon attended as well as a few Senators
such as Cornyn (R-TX).

Rep. Pallone, founder and co-chairman of the Congressional India Caucus,
addressed the group. Much to the disappointment of his audience Pallone said
that they should not expect any progress on their immigration issues until
after 2009. He said the debate is too politically heated to make progress.
This was a stunning admission from a politician that has accepted generous
amounts of cash donations from many of those who were sitting in the crowd.
Pallone must have been biting his tongue when he confessed that he failed to
deliver the goods!

Senator Cornyn didn't offer the crowd comfort either -- he echoed what Pallone
said. Cornyn complained that many of his colleagues have suffered politically
following fax and phone call blitzes to their offices by angry voters. Cornyn
must have been referring to various fax programs run by groups such as
NumbersUSA, FAIR, CAPS, JBS, and Washtech. Cornyn's complaints should
encourage and inspire all of you that have had doubts about the efficacy of
the fax programs that they do work and they are heard on Capitol Hill.

Cornyn blabbered a lot about the need to "educate" the American public so that
they will accept more H-1B visas. That's quite funny because it seems that
there are at least a few Americans who are educated on the subject, as
evidenced by the fax blitzes that Cornyn whined about.

In conclusion, the Indian lobby groups probably didn't get much satisfaction
for their efforts on the H-1B and green card issues. They still haven't won an
increase, but on the other hand, the cap of 85,000 a year (not including
exempts) hasn't been reduced either. No meaningful reforms that would help
American workers such as the Pascrell bill have been passed, and visas such as
L-1 are still unlimited.

These ethnocentric special interest groups have at least succeeded in
maintaining the status quo. If there are no changes they win, even if it's not
at the rate they would prefer.

The lobbying campaign was pulled off for a mere $2,000. That's quite
impressive considering the large number of politicians they got access to.
Their largest expense was to cater the food at the Rayburn House.
Participants paid for their own travel and lodging. They kept the expenses
down by getting group rates at cheap motels like the Comfort Inn which cost
around $60 per night.

It goes without saying that these organizations have members and a
constituency who not only have a good understanding of our political system
but also have the motivation to spend the time and effort necessary to make
the event happen.

Contrast the efforts of the Indian lobbyists to that of American high-tech
workers.

So far, after almost 18 years of H-1B, there hasn't been a single large scale
face-to-face lobbying effort in Washington DC to counter the cheap labor
lobby, although there have been some heroic efforts by a few individuals who
have gone to Washington DC at their own expense to battle on the behalf of
high-tech workers.

We can only speculate why high-tech workers have remained so silent. Most of
the Americans who are affected by H-1B, and who seem to have everything to
lose by not taking action, seem to be in an apathetic malaise, and perhaps
they are still overly optimistic about their future career prospects.
Meanwhile at least 300,000 American jobs are lost every year to H-1B, L-1, and
EB green cards.

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

http://www.gopio.net/news_110107.htm

NFIA CONGRESSIONAL LUNCHEON AND THE WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING A SUCCESS

The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA), an umbrella
organization comprising of more than 200 association members representing
2.3 million American who trace their roots to India held a Congressional
Luncheon attended by over a dozen Congressmen at the Capital Hill on October
18, 2007. It was followed by a White House Briefing in the Gold Room of the
Rayburn House Office Building.

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

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:lZsAGUBbVg0J:www.gopio.net/news_latest.htm+rayburn+%22october+18,+2007%22+McDermott&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl
=us

(Note from Rob: This page has two pictures of the luncheon meeting)

NFIA CONGRESSIONAL LUNCHEON AND THE WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING A SUCCESS

On the following day, Ambassador Ronen Sen hosted lunch for the NFIA
delegates.

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

http://www.iafpe.org/Downloads/25th_anniversary_flyer.pdf

Indian American Forum

For Political Education
25th Anniversary Celebration

October 18, 2007
The Capital Hill, Washington DC

Click here to Register and Buy Tickets

Program:

4:15-5:00 pm Registration

5:00-6:00 pm Panel of appointed IA's

Panelists:

Anoop Prakash, Assoc. Administrator, S.B.A; Natwar Gandhi, CFO, City of
Washington,DC; Richard Verma, Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Sen Reid;
Prakash Khatri, CIS, Ombudsman, US Dept of Homeland Security; Arshi Siddiqui,
Chief Economic Aide to Speaker Pelosi; Dino Teppara, Chief Aide to Cong
Wilson; Korok Ray, Council of Economic Advisors, The White House.

6:00-7:00 pm Panel of US Congressmen

Panelists: Cong McGovern (MA); Cong. Wilson (SC); Cong. Pellone (NJ); Cong.
Davis (VA)

7:00-9:00 pm Reception and Keynotes

Keynote: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (invited)

Venue: Rayburn House Office Building (B 338/339)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm

Support this Newsletter and www.JobDestruction.com by donating:
www.zazona.com/Donations.htm

To Be removed from this mailing list, reply to this email with UNSUbSCRIBE in
the subject window

Back to archives