Rep. Shadegg Sponsors Skil Bill in the House

Date: Monday, July 03, 2006 11:30 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1515 -- 07/03/2006 >>>>>

The special interest groups that want large increases in the number of
employment based visas have made a major move forward towards that goal,
thanks to John Shadegg (R-AZ) who just introduced a House version of the
Skil Bill (H.R. 5744). The text of the bill isn't even online at the time
of this writing and yet it's picking up co-sponsors very rapidly.

I often call the Senate version of this horrendous excuse to replace
American workers "Bill's Skil Bill" because of Bill Gates' role in lobbying
for the original legislation. The legislation was first put into Sen. Arlen
Specter's comprehensive immigration bill now known as S. 2611. The Skil
Bill morphed from S. 2611 and became a separate and smaller bill called S.
2691.

The Skill bill was drafted as a separate bill from the comprehensive
immigration bill so that the H-1B pushers would have something to fall back
on if the House resisted S. 2611. So far the House and Senate are in a
stalemate over the guestworker/amnesty aspects of the bill so the H-1B
pushers probably felt some urgency to get the Skill bill in the House.

In brief, here are some of the things the Skil Bill would do if Congress
passes it:

* H-1B: Increase the annual cap of 65,000 to 115,000, automatically
increase the new cap by 20 percent each year the cap is hit, and creates a
new exemption to the new cap for anyone who has an "advanced degree in
science, technology, engineering, or math" from any foreign university.

* H-1B workers are eligible for green cards and would be allowed to stay
and work in the United States for as long as it takes to process the green
card application. As long as an H-1B applies for a Green Card, he/she can
stay in the U.S. forever so it will no longer be a temporary visa.

* Employment Based Green Cards: The bill would increase the annual cap on
employment-based green cards by more than 500 percent, upping the current
cap of 140,000 to 450,000 until 2016 and to 290,000 thereafter and
exempting all immediate family members that currently count against the cap
today (spouses, children and parents) from the newly escalated cap.

* F-4 Visas: This new visa is perhaps more pernicious than the huge
increases in H-1B. It allows foreign students to work as they go to school,
and then to look for work for up to one year after graduating. They are put
on a fast track to a Green Card if they do find work, so they don't even
have to get an H-1B first.

For further background on the Skil Bill and what it means for American
workers, go to the archive and read the following newsletters:

2006-06-27 Another proposal to increase H-1B
2006-05-18 Two articles on H-1B F-4 and organizing
2006-05-16 S.2611 Will Destroy America As We Know It
2006-05-25 Business groups applaud immigration bill
2006-05-11 More articles about the Skil Bill
2006-05-04 Bill's SKIL Bill

NOTE: Several local activists as well as myself and I will be visiting
Shadegg's office this week. I will make a very big deal about Shadegg's
sellout to the McCain/Kennedy/Specter conspiracy to ramp-up H-1B. I don't
expect to get very far with his staff because no Arizona politician has
ever been in trouble in an election because of their support for H-1B.
Shadegg probably figures that the money he will receive from high-tech
lobbyists will more than offset any loss of votes, and perhaps he thinks it
will allow him to gain votes. So far in Arizona H-1B is a non-issue for
voters, but for politicians like McCain, Flake, Kolbe, Kyl, and now Shadegg
it's their golden nest egg.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://johnshadegg.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=46437

Shadegg
Contact: Sean Noble 202-225-3361

Shadegg Introduces Skil Bill To Keep American Workforce Competitive
Rep. Shadegg -- "We stand to potentially lose the next technological giants
like Yahoo! or Google if we do not keep Americas workforce competitive."

Washington, Jun 30 -

As the United States works to maintain its economic competitive edge, U.S.

Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) introduced legislation yesterday to help
retain the innovative minds of foreign-born nationals here in the United
States.

"We have benefited greatly from the many foreign-born scientists,
engineers, health care professionals, and teachers that help keep America
moving forward," said Shadegg, a member of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee. "To our detriment, current policy mandates that we educate and
train these brilliant individuals and then send them away to other
countries to compete against us."

H.R. 5744, The Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership (SKIL) Act,
addresses this growing problem by increasing the allotment of H-1B visas,
returning to the prior, higher level of 115,000, with potential for future
increases. The bill would also allow foreign nationals who graduate from
U.S. universities to stay in America and contribute to our economy by
joining the American workforce.

"Unfortunately, we are not graduating the number of Americans with advanced
degrees in math and sciences that our high tech and medical industries need
to compete. Until we can fix the problem of not having enough highly
skilled American graduates, we need to pass the SKIL Bill."

Shadegg went on to say, "We stand to potentially lose the next
technological giants like Yahoo! or Google if we do not keep Americas
workforce competitive. We must maintain our edge by providing opportunities
to highly educated and skilled individuals interested in staying here in
the U.S."

In 2005, foreign nationals earned more than 40 percent of the masters
degrees and 60 percent of the doctorate degrees in engineering awarded by
U.S. universities.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060630/sff032.html?.v=47

SEMI Commends Representative John Shadegg for Introducing the Securing
Knowledge Innovation and Leadership Act
Friday June 30, 3:04 pm ET
SEMI Urges Permanent Resolution to H-1B Visa and Green Card Issue

WASHINGTON, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- SEMI applauds Representative John
Shadegg (R-AZ) for introducing H.R. 5744 Securing Knowledge, Innovation,
and Leadership Act (SKIL Bill) in the House of Representatives. SEMI is
also grateful for the support of Representatives John Campbell (R-CA), Mike
Conaway (R-TX), John T. Doolittle (R-CA), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Peter Hoekstra
(R-MI), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Mike Pence (R-IN), John Shimkus (R-IL) and
Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) who are original cosponsors of the bill.
The SKIL Bill contains critical H-1B visa and employment based (EB) visa
green card provisions that will increase the number of available H-1B visas
for highly educated temporary workers from 65,000 to 115,000 and implement
a market-based system, which would allow for future cap increases if they
are needed. The bill will also increase the number of available green
cards, as well as exempt immigrant spouses and children from the annual
cap. Additionally, it will exempt highly educated foreign nationals with
advanced degrees from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering
or mathematics from both H-1B cap and EB visa caps. The SKIL Bill was
introduced in the Senate by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in May (S. 2691).
SEMI also supports the legal immigration provisions within the Senate's
comprehensive immigration reform bill that address the H-1B visa and green
card issues.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on June 1, 2006
that the H-1B visas allotted for fiscal year 2007 reached the cap of 65,000
four months prior to the start of the fiscal year. This is the third
consecutive year the cap has been reached prior to the beginning of the new
fiscal year. Furthermore, the cap has been reached eight times in the last
ten years before the end of the fiscal year.

SEMI North America President, Victoria Hadfield, said, "SEMI is concerned
about access to highly educated workers, particularly those who possess
Masters and PhDs in mathematics, engineering and science. These individuals
are among those who will make the technological breakthroughs of tomorrow."
She continued, "the number of American students pursuing these degrees has
been on the decline; therefore, it is critical to the U.S. economy and our
national competitiveness that we have an efficient immigration system that
welcomes highly-educated foreign nationals to the U.S. workforce. We
greatly appreciate Rep. Shadegg's leadership to address this challenge."

In 2003 SEMI established the SEMI Foundation to support education and
increase awareness of the field of high technology among high school
students. The SEMI Foundation's highly successful High Tech University
(HTU) program addresses the workforce development issue of fewer students
pursuing degrees in math, science, and engineering from an industry
perspective. To date over 1,400 students have attended 44 HTU programs.
"The HTU program exposes students and parents to the potential high-tech
career opportunities available. SEMI finds that this exposure and a
business style of approach to math and science helps motivate students to
study and excel in these subjects." Hadfield added, "educational and
scholarship programs such as this may provide a long term solution. The
SKIL Bill is a much needed immediate solution to address this problem."

"The present immigration system is outdated and needs to be overhauled to
ensure that engineering and science graduates in key disciplines are able
to pursue their careers in the United States. SEMI urges Congress to enact
legislation to address these issues before the end of the 109th Congress,"
concluded Hadfield.

SEMI is a global industry association serving companies that provide
equipment, materials and services used to manufacture semiconductors,
displays, nano-scaled structures, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)
and related technologies. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Beijing,
Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose (Calif.), Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore,
Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.semi.org.

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