Q: What’s the story on your attempts to reform the H-1B Visa program?
A: The H1-B visa program was created through the Immigration Act of 1990 to help American companies shore up a shortage in highly skilled workers by providing visas to bring in workers from abroad. Congress passed this legislation hoping to maintain the United States' position as a leader in the increasingly competitive global marketplace. I’m fully supportive of keeping our nation on the frontier of innovation and technology, but there’s growing evidence that the H-1B program no longer puts U.S. workers before foreign ones and is failing in its original mission in other areas. I have asked questions of the top 25 companies that use the program, and I’ve asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to review how H1-B visas are used. We know already that U.S. companies are no longer the primary benefactor of the program as eight of the 10 largest users of H-1B visas are foreign-based companies. I’m working in a bipartisan fashion with Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois to overhaul the system, reduce the fraud, and close the loopholes. Powerful business interests are advocating an increase in the current annual cap of 85,000 H-1B visas. Before any changes are made, we need to make sure that highly skilled Americans are not being passed over for jobs for cheaper foreign labor. It doesn’t do any good to close the barn door after the horse is gone, so I’m keeping the pressure on Congressional leadership to reform the program before any commitment is made to increase the supply of these visas. Qualified Americans should be first in line for these jobs rather than first in the unemployment line.
Q: What are you doing to restore the order to this program?
A: Last year, Senator Durbin and I introduced “The H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007.” Our legislation concentrates on bringing more oversight and transparency to the H-1B visa program in order to make sure capable Americans receive a fair shake in the highly-skilled job market. Current law mandates that only companies employing a large percentage of H1-B visa holders pledge they have made a good-faith effort to hire American workers first. Our legislation makes sure all employers make this pledge and goes even further by requiring companies to advertise job openings on a website for 30 days before submitting an H-1B application. Another problem that blows a hole in the credibility of the H-1B program is the use of “job shops,” where a company hires large numbers of foreign workers on H-1B visas only to train the workers and then outsource them oversees. A limited amount of H-1Bs are provided each year, and these “job shops” keep American companies with a need for highly-skilled foreign workers from hiring H-1B visa holders. The Grassley-Durbin bill would prohibit the outsourcing of H-1B employees. Provisions in our bill also give the Department of Labor more teeth to oversee the program in hopes of rooting out bad actors. I’m hopeful our work will not only protect American workers but will help refocus the program on its original mission of helping American companies lead the way in our global economy.