Senate Sells Out American Workers:

Senate Sells Out American Workers: Rejects Byrd Amendment to Stop Major Foreign Worker/Immigration Increase

Thanks for making calls this week in support of Sen. Robert Byrd's (D-WV) amendment to strip the massive foreign worker/immigration increase from the Deficit Reduction bill. We received feedback that phones were ringing off the hook in Senate offices. I'm sorry to report that the Senate chose to sell out American workers yesterday, and rejected the Byrd amendment by a 14-85 vote.

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO FIND OUT HOW YOUR SENATORS VOTED

Sen. Byrd's amendment would have replaced the Specter/Kennedy language which sells over 368,000 American jobs a year to a combination of immigrants, foreign guest workers, and their families, with the House Judiciary Committee proposal to raise fees on L-1 intra-company transferee visas. Byrd's amendment would have achieved the required savings without making wholesale changes to our immigration system.

This vote clearly demonstrates that the Senate is willing to pass major immigration and guest worker expansions without proper debate under the guise of reducing the deficit.

After voting down the Byrd amendment, the Senate approved the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005 (S. 1932) by a 52-47 vote.

We will continue to fight this foreign worker/immigration increase as the reconciliation process moves towards the House/Senate conference stage.

HOLD YOUR SENATORS ACCOUNTABLE!

For now, take this vote as an opportunity to hold your senators accountable. Find out how they voted, then call their offices to voice your approval or disapproval of their vote. Remember, a vote against the Byrd amendment is a vote for increasing immigration and displacing American workers with foreign labor.

Call the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask to be connected or find your senators phone numbers here on our web site.

BACKGROUND:

Last week, without a public hearing or even a warning, the Senate Judiciary Committee inserted language authored by Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) that increases revenue by selling over 368,000 American jobs a year to foreign workers and their families who will enter the United States and stay permanently.

The Specter/Kennedy language would increase the number of H-1B workers by 30,000 each year, increase the number of permanent employment-based visas by 90,000 each year, and exempt families of these new workers from the 140,000 annual cap on employment-based immigration. This will add an estimated 278,000 family members - many of them will also find jobs in the United States - to the number of high tech and permanent new foreign workers allowed under the plan. If enacted, the Specter plan would constitute one of the largest immigration increases in American history under the guise of deficit reduction.

The Committee was charged with finding $60 million in FY 06 and $300 million over the period between FY 20006 and FY 2010. The Specter/Kennedy language raises fees on H-1B and permanent employment-based visas charged to employers to accomplish savings. Sen. Byrd's amendment would have striped out the Specter/Kennedy language and replaced it with the House Judiciary Committee proposal to raise the fees on L-1 intra-company transferees to $1,500 per visa. Sen. Byrd's amendment would have provided the required savings without making wholesale changes to our immigration system.