Senate (Legislative Day of Friday, September 22, 2000)
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 146 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2000 No. 121 Senate (Legislative day of Friday, September 22, 2000) The Senate met at 9:30 a.m., on the I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the time equally divided on the H±1B mat- expiration of the recess, and was called United States of America, and to the Repub- ter to be voted on at 10 o'clock. to order by the President pro tempore lic for which it stands, one nation under God, The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Mr. THURMOND]. Senator is correct. f PRAYER Mr. REID. Mr. President, H±1B origi- RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING nated in our immigration laws in the The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John MAJORITY LEADER 1950's so that trained professionals Ogilvie, offered the following prayer: could work for a limited time in the God of hope, You have shown us that The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The authentic hope is rooted in Your faith- acting majority leader is recognized. U.S. In 1990, a cap was set on the cat- egory for the first time of 65,000. fulness in keeping Your promises. We f hear Your assurance, ``Be not afraid, I Employers in every industry and sec- am with you.'' We place our hope in SCHEDULE tor of our economy, including manufac- Your problem-solving power, Your con- Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, today turing, higher education, health care, flict-resolving presence, and Your anx- the Senate will begin final action on research, finance and others, have used iety-dissolving peace. the H±1B visa bill, with a vote on final it. Lord, You have helped us discover passage scheduled to occur at 10 a.m. Employers from major multinational the liberating power of an unreserved Following the vote, the Senate will companies to small businesses seeking commitment to You. When we commit proceed to executive session to debate individuals with specific skills needed to You our lives and each of the chal- four nominations on the Executive Cal- to grow their companies have used it. lenges we face, we are not only released endar. Under the previous order, there It became wildly popular in the mid from the tension of living on our own will be several hours of debate, with to late 90s following the Internet boom, limited resources, but we begin to ex- votes expected on the nominations dur- when hundreds of hungry tech startups perience the mysterious movement of ing this afternoon's session. The Sen- across the country began using it to re- Your providence. The company of heav- ate may also consider any appropria- cruit high tech workers from informa- en plus people and circumstances begin tions conference reports available for tion technology jobs, mostly from to rally to our aid. Unexpected re- action. India, China, Canada, and Britain. sources are released; unexplainable I thank my colleagues for their at- Some 420,000 are here today. good things start happening. We claim the promise of Psalm 37, ``Commit your tention. Those individuals have filled a crit- way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and f ical shortage of high-tech workers in He shall bring it to pass.''Ðvs 5,7. You this country, which in fact, still exists AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS IN today. are our Lord and Saviour. Amen. THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY f The American Competitiveness in the ACT OF 2000 Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 pro- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The poses to raise the caps for the number The Honorable CRAIG THOMAS, a Sen- Senator from Nevada is recognized. of H±1B workers that employers can ator from the State of Wyoming, led Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is my un- bring into the United States for the the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: derstanding that we are now in the next 3 years. N O T I C E Effective January 1, 2001, the subscription price of the Congressional Record will be $393 per year or $197 for six months. Individual issues may be purchased for $4.00 per copy. The cost for the microfiche edition will remain $141 per year with single copies remaining $1.50 per issue. This price increase is necessary based upon the cost of printing and distribution. Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer ∑ This ``bullet'' symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S9643 . S9644 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð SENATE October 3, 2000 When Congress set the 65,000 cap on Demand for core information tech- myself such time as I may need to H±1Bs in 1990, it was not based on any nology workers in the United States is speak this morning. economic data or scientific study of expected to grow by 150,000 a year for Mr. President, the H±1B visa pro- the need. the next 8 years, a rate of growth that gram, which we will be addressing And, this limitation was not chal- cannot be met by the domestic labor today when we vote on the American lenged until 1997 when for the first supply alone. Competitiveness in the Twenty-first time the cap was reached at the end of H±1B workers create jobs for Ameri- Century Act, is the subject of much in- the fiscal year. cans by enabling the creation of new teresting debate in our country today. The following year the cap was again products and spurring innovation. One thing everybody agrees on is we reached, but this time by May 1998. The High-tech industry executives esti- face a serious worker shortage with re- cap has been reached earlier in each mate that a new H±1B engineer will spect to high-tech employment and successive year. typically create demand for an addi- skilled labor in America today. Most of In response to the increased demand, tional 3±5 American workers. the recent studies that have been pro- language was incorporated into the T.J. Rodgers of Cypress Semicon- duced on this subject indicate there are Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1998 to ductor testified last year before Con- perhaps as many as 1 million unfilled raise the cap on H±1B visas to 115,000 in gress that for every H±1B professional positions in information technology fiscal year 1999; and 115,000 in fiscal he hires, he creates at least 5 more U.S. today. The projections are that we will year 2000; and 107,500 in fiscal year 2001. jobs to develop, manufacture, package, be creating somewhere between 150,000 Under the Omnibus Act of 1998 the sell and distribute the products cre- and 200,000 new positions in these areas cap would return to its original level of ated. in each of the next 10 years. Yet in 65,000 after fiscal year 2001. H±1B workers are not driving down spite of the very lucrative and, I think, Despite the increases, continuing wages for native workers, in fact, substantive nature of these jobs, our economic growth has led many in the wages are rising fastest and unemploy- training programs, our college pro- technology sector particularly, to call ment rates are lowest in industries in grams, our high school programs are for a further increase in the caps. which H±1B workers are most preva- not producing enough American work- In fiscal year 1999 the INS reached lent. ers to fill these posts today. the H±1B cap in June and stated that High tech wages have risen 27 percent This presents us with a short-term there my have been more than 20,000 in the last decade, compared to 5 per- problem and a long-term challenge. additional visas issued over and above cent for the rest of the private sector. The short-term problem is how to fill the ceiling. The current unemployment rate for these key positions immediately so The higher demand for H±1B visas electrical engineers is 1.4 percent, 1.7 that we don't lose opportunities to for- has continued in fiscal year 2000. percent for systems analysts and 2.3 eign competitors, or so that we don't In March of this year, the INS percent for computer programmers. force American businesses to move off- stopped accepting new H±1B applica- The vast majority of H±1B workers shore to where skilled workers might tions, having enough cases in its pipe- are being paid the legally required pre- live. The long-term problem is to de- line to reach the cap. vailing wage or more, undercutting termine what we can do to make cer- In order to compensate for the de- charges that they are driving down tain that in the future we have a suffi- mand, the INS began processing peti- wages. cient workforce of trained Americans tions in August 2000 for workers who The H±1B program mandates that to fill these jobs, because it is quite are set to begin working fiscal year these individuals be paid the higher of clear to me that immigration can only 2001. the average wage paid to workers in an be a stopgap, short-term solution to Based on past years' filling patterns, area, or what the employer pays their these problems. the INS may have as many as 60,000 U.S. workforce whichever is higher. I am pleased we have reached an cases already pending to count against H±1B workers in many cases, because agreement on this legislation across the 107,500 visas now available.