[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 24, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1413-H1414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1830
                              H-1B PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Klink) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KLINK. Mr. Speaker, several years ago when we were debating on 
the floor of this House the North American Free Trade Agreement, we 
were being told by those who were proponents of that agreement that we 
would lose some low-skill, low-income jobs in this country, but that as 
we move from an industrial society more toward an information 
technology society, those people who lost those jobs would receive 
training, would receive opportunities in jobs that would pay more money 
in those information technologies.
  Well, lo and behold, we have moved to information technologies and 
now the Information Technology Association of America said we are 
growing so fast we cannot fill these jobs. And so, under a very little-
known program, little known by most legislators and few Americans, it 
is called the H-1B Program, they now want to import foreign workers 
into our country to take those jobs.
  I simply ask, Mr. Speaker, what kind of jobs are we supposed to give 
those displaced Americans who have lost their jobs? What jobs are we 
supposed to give to those kids who are coming

[[Page H1414]]

out of college, out of high school, out of career training right now if 
we are importing workers to take the jobs that are being created in 
this Nation?
  Now, there is a flaw, of course, in this rationale. Even the GAO in a 
report that they released yesterday said that the Department of 
Commerce, in agreeing with the industry, and the industry in releasing 
their information, used flawed data. There is not, apparently, 
according to many of us, the severe shortage that cannot be filled by 
retraining Americans and by training Americans to take those jobs.
  First of all, let me tell my colleagues, there is no universally 
accepted definition of what is an information technology worker. There 
also is no universal definition as to what training is required for 
those jobs. And, so, the industry in standing up and crying ``wolf'' 
and crying, like Chicken Little, that ``the sky has fallen,'' that they 
have got these millions of jobs that they cannot fill, defined very 
broadly what is an information technology worker and very narrowly what 
kind of training would be required to fill those jobs. They seem to 
require right now that if you do not have a Bachelor's degree in 
computer science or information science you cannot fill those jobs.
  Well, that is crazy. Because in 1993, only 25 percent of the workers 
across this Nation who were working in information technology actually 
had a BA in computer or in information science. Many of the other 
workers had degrees, but they had degrees in business, in social 
science, in math, engineering, psychology, economics, education. They 
were smart people. They had training and could be retrained to take 
these jobs in what is a burgeoning industry.
  We project between 1996 and the year 2006 we will need 1.3 million 
workers in information technology; 1.1 million of those workers will be 
needed because of the growth alone. The wages for information 
technology workers are increasing, but they are increasing only because 
the market calls for an increase, and they are increasing no more than 
the wages for the general public.
  Now the ITAA, this Information Technology Association of America that 
wants to use this little-known program now to import workers to this 
country to take these new jobs in a growth industry, sent out a 
sampling to 2,000 industries. Only 14 percent of those industries 
responded, and on that 14-percent response, they are basing their 
request to import workers into this country to take those jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, it would take a 75-percent response to make a credible 
extrapolation on a nationwide basis, a nationwide generalization as to 
how many workers we need and where they have to come from.
  Let me tell my colleagues about this program, the origination of the 
H-1B program. This was established in 1990 to alleviate an anticipated 
shortage of scientists and engineers, particularly at a Ph.D. level. 
But by the time this program was in place, the Berlin Wall had fallen, 
there was an economic downturn, we had gone into a recession, 
downsizing was rampant in defense and other industries, and we really 
never needed the program. The people that were proponents of this 
program were primarily the National Science Foundation and some 
industry groups.
  But the information technology companies have gotten smart. They 
said, here is a program, we can import workers; and in fact they become 
indentured servants. We own them. If they complain about the work 
hours, if they complain about the salary, if they complain about the 
benefits, we will send them back to the country they came from. And 
what has happened is, we have seen tremendous numbers of layoffs of 
American workers while these foreign workers have been brought into 
this country. This needs to be looked at.
  And I would ask, Mr. Speaker, that other Members of this House would 
look at this program and we can stand up for American workers and get 
training and retraining for our workers for these jobs.

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