WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today filed an amendment to the stimulus bill that would prohibit businesses that have received taxpayer bailout funds through the TARP program from hiring H-1B visa holders. Grassley sponsored the amendment with Senator Bernie Sanders.
“Hiring American workers for limited available jobs should be a top priority for businesses taking taxpayer money through the TARP program. With the unemployment rate at 7.2 percent, there is no need for companies to hire foreign workers through the H1-B program when there are plenty of qualified Americans looking for jobs,” Grassley said. “I support the H-1B program, but it should be used in the way it was intended – as a temporary measure to supplement a company’s need for hi-tech or specialized workers when none are available in the U.S.”
Grassley cited an article from the Associated Press that said the banking industry had requested more than 21,000 visas for foreign guest workers over the last 6 years. He said that H-1B and other work visa programs were never intended to replace qualified American workers, and now that many qualified American bank employees are unemployed, banks who want to hire workers shouldn’t have a hard time finding what they need from an American workforce.
“If banks are going to be getting TARP money – American taxpayer money – then they should be hiring American workers,” Grassley said.
Grassley has been a leader in the effort to improve the H-1B visa program. In the 110th Congress, he introduced a comprehensive H-1B and L visa reform bill with Senator Dick Durbin that would give priority to American workers and crack down on unscrupulous employers who deprive qualified Americans of high-skill jobs. He has also asked questions of both American and foreign based companies about their use of the H-1B visa program.
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