U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has teamed up with one of the most vocal critics of H-1B visa program to propose cutting down on the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S. under the program.
On Tuesday, Nelson paired up with U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., in launching a bill to reduce the number of H-1B visas from 85,000 to 70,000 a year. Only highly specialized foreign workers in areas with few skilled American workers can apply for H-1B visas. Nelson’s and Session’s bill would give H-1Bs to higher paid workers before lower ones.
Nelson explained the rationale behind the bill on Tuesday.
“By cutting the number of visas available each year and requiring those visas be given to the highest-wage earners first, this bill directly targets outsourcing companies that rely on lower-wage foreign workers to replace equally-qualified U.S. workers,” Nelson said.
Sessions has been leading the charge against expanding H-1B visas, many of which go to foreign workers in the computer or other high-tech industries. Back in March, when opposing the Immigration Innovation (“I-Squared”) Act, a proposal from U.S. Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to expand the number of H1-B visas, Sessions insisted they hurt American employees, giving employers the opportunity to bring lower cost workers into the U.S.
Back in January, Hatch brought out a bill raising the number of H-1B visas to at least 115,000 with room for expansion. Hatch’s bill had the backing of Democratic U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Chris Coons of Delaware and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota as well as Republicans U.S. Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida.
"This bill is a common sense approach to ensuring that those who have come here to be educated in high-tech fields have the ability to stay here with their families and contribute to the economy and our society,” Hatch insisted when he brought the bill out. “I’m calling on everyone – from the president and both sides of the aisle in Congress to the tech and business industries – to get behind this bill and use it as a launching for more progress on immigration reform. We have to find ways to make progress and solve some of the real problems facing our nation. The I-Squared Act is one of those ways and I want to work with everyone to get it done.”
“America deserves an immigration system that works for our economy, drives innovation, and creates good paying jobs for our people,” Rubio said in January when the bill was introduced. “An immigration system for the 21st century will be judged by whether it provides the conditions for both security and economic growth. The reforms in this legislation lead the way to such a system, which I believe we can ultimately achieve after meeting the immediate challenges of securing our borders and improving internal enforcement.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
