[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 121 (Tuesday, September 11, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5814-H5817]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REAUTHORIZING CERTAIN VISA PROGRAMS
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (S. 3245) to extend by 3 years the authorization of the EB-5
Regional Center Program, the E-Verify Program, the Special Immigrant
Nonminister Religious Worker Program, and the Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa
Waiver Program.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 3245
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REAUTHORIZATION OF EB-5 REGIONAL CENTER PROGRAM.
Section 610 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and
State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 1993 (8 U.S.C. 1153 note) is amended--
(1) by striking ``pilot'' each place such term appears;
and
(2) in subsection (b), by striking ``September 30, 2012''
and inserting ``September 30, 2015''.
[[Page H5815]]
SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF E-VERIFY.
Section 401(b) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note) is
amended by striking ``September 30, 2012'' and inserting
``September 30, 2015''.
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF SPECIAL IMMIGRANT NONMINISTER
RELIGIOUS WORKER PROGRAM.
Section 101(a)(27)(C)(ii) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(C)(ii)) is amended--
(1) in subclause (II), by striking ``September 30, 2012''
and inserting ``September 30, 2015''; and
(2) in subclause (III), by striking ``September 30,
2012'' and inserting ``September 30, 2015''.
SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF CONRAD STATE 30 J-1 VISA WAIVER
PROGRAM.
Section 220(c) of the Immigration and Nationality
Technical Corrections Act of 1994 (8 U.S.C. 1182 note) is
amended by striking ``September 30, 2012'' and inserting
``September 30, 2015''.
SEC. 5. NO AUTHORITY FOR NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD.
Nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize the
planning, testing, piloting, or development of a national
identification card.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Smith) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Zoe Lofgren)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
General Leave
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks and include extraneous materials on S. 3245, currently
under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I'd like to thank the Senate Judiciary
Committee chairman and ranking member for introducing this legislation
and for working with me to help ensure that four key immigration-
related programs do not expire at the end of this month.
This Congress must ensure there is a national business climate that
fosters the ability of private enterprise to create jobs for Americans
and legal workers.
S. 3245, which extends for 3 years the E-Verify, EB-5 Regional Center
Pilot, the Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver, and the Special Immigrant
Nonminister Religious Worker programs, helps achieve this goal in
several ways.
First, the E-Verify program allows employers to electronically verify
that newly hired employees are authorized to work in the United States.
The program is free, quick, and easy to use. Nearly 400,000 American
employers use E-Verify, and over 1,000 new businesses sign up for it
every week.
The American public overwhelmingly supports E-Verify. Last year, a
Rasmussen poll found that 82 percent of likely voters ``think
businesses should be required to use the Federal Government's E-Verify
system to determine if a potential employee is in the country
legally.''
E-Verify has also received bipartisan congressional support in the
past. In 2008, the House passed a 5-year extension of E-Verify by a
vote of 407-2. And in 2009, the Senate passed a permanent E-Verify
extension by voice vote.
Ensuring that businesses have access to E-Verify will help preserve
jobs for the 23 million Americans who are currently unemployed or
looking for full-time work.
The investor visa program also helps create jobs for Americans. Under
this program, 10,000 immigrants can receive permanent residence each
year if they engage in a new commercial enterprise, invest between
$500,000 and $1 million in the business, and see that it creates 10
full-time jobs for American workers.
The Regional Center Pilot Project, which is almost two decades old,
has reinvigorated the investor visa program. Investment through a
regional center is especially attractive to potential investors because
they are relieved of the responsibility of running a new business. They
can also count indirect job creation towards the job creation
requirement. Most investor visa petitions now involve regional centers.
It appears that investors may feel more confident about a regional
center that is operated through a State or city government. In these
hard economic times, many State and local governments have turned to
regional centers as a method of generating economic growth.
The Association to Invest in the United States of America has
estimated the regional center program has created or saved over 65,000
jobs in the U.S. and has led to the investment of over $3 billion in
the U.S. economy.
S. 3245 also extends for 3 years a program that has successfully
brought needed doctors to medically underserved areas in the U.S. This
program was designed by Senator Kent Conrad. It allows foreign doctors
who have been in the U.S. on exchange programs to stay at the
conclusion of their residencies if they agree to practice medicine for
at least 3 years in health professional shortage areas. This is a
valuable provision, and I support its reauthorization.
{time} 1550
Finally, S. 3245 extends the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious
Worker Program. Under this program, 5,000 immigrant visas can be issued
to nonminister individuals who have been members of the denomination
and who have worked in the capacity for which they are applying for at
least the 2 years immediately following the visa applications.
Historically, the program has been plagued by fraud, but the Bush
administration took steps to help prevent much of the fraud, and now
many churches and religious organizations in the United States rely on
these immigrant nonministers. I look forward to making statutory
changes aimed at even more fraud prevention, and I support the
program's extension.
Again, I want to thank Senator Leahy and Senator Grassley for their
leadership on this bill. All four of these programs are important, and
I urge my colleagues to support S. 3245.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time
as I may consume.
I do rise in strong support of this bill. Specifically, this bill
extends until September 30, 2015, these four longstanding immigration
programs that are set to expire otherwise at the end of this month.
They are valuable programs, and they serve different purposes.
The one, the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program,
allows religious workers to enter the United States to do important
work. There are 5,000 religious workers eligible for these visas each
year when they are called to a vocation or are in a traditional
religious occupation with a bona fide nonprofit religious organization.
They are missionaries, counselors, instructors, and pastoral care
providers. They really help our country.
The second program, the Conrad ``J Waiver,'' helps medically
underserved communities attract highly skilled physicians. This program
literally provides a lifeline for communities that desperately need
doctors who received their medical training in the United States. It is
absolutely necessary that this program continues to exist so that
States can attract medical talent and can keep the doors of small town
clinics open.
The third program, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program,
allocates 3,000--out of the EB-5 category's 10,000--visas each year for
EB-5 investors who invest in these designated regional centers. This
pilot program is important to our Nation's economy as it represents,
actually, billions of dollars in aggregate immigrant investment, and it
creates more than 20,000 new direct and indirect jobs each year.
The final program that would be extended under the bill is E-Verify,
the basic pilot program first authorized in 1996. Now, Chairman Smith
and I disagree on how effective this bill is. I don't believe it's
ready for mandatory nationwide use because of errors in the system and,
more broadly, because of major dysfunctions in our immigration system,
but that doesn't mean I disagree that this program should be extended.
I do. This program is voluntary, and by extending the E-Verify program
as it currently exists, it will provide Congress additional time to
work toward improving the program and fixing our Nation's immigration
laws so that they work for American families, businesses, and the
economy as a whole.
[[Page H5816]]
I should note that this bill received unanimous support in the
Senate. Likewise, I hope that all of my colleagues in this Chamber will
support this bipartisan legislation so that it can be quickly sent to
the President's desk for his signature.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of
my time.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, we do have two Members
who would like to address this briefly. I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen).
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S.
3245, which would, in part, reauthorize the EB-5 visa program for 3
years. This EB-5 program will create good American jobs.
Last year, I worked with Senator Leahy to write H.R. 2972, the
Creating American Jobs Through Foreign Capital Act. That legislation
would have reauthorized EB-5 permanently. While the bill before us
today extends the program for only 3 years, it is still an important
job creator that we must pass. The program allows qualified foreign
investors who invest in the U.S. and who create or save at least 10
full-time American jobs to seek U.S. visas. This program brings
overseas capital to the U.S. to create jobs for people in my district
and across America.
There are two projects in Everett, Washington, currently being
financed through the EB-5 program. One is a college building. If this
bill is not passed, our area will lose this building and the
opportunities associated with it. The second investment is one for a
building that houses a regional farmers' market, which is a project
that has been in the works and is almost done. This project will help
local farmers regionally and create jobs. If this bill is not passed,
again, this project, which is set to be finished soon, will not be
completed, and all finance and investments will be lost. In another
part of my district, in Whatcom County, the local EB-5 center has
leveraged more than $34 million from immigrant investors to create more
than 800 good local jobs.
The EB-5 program is a real threefer: It's a win for American workers,
who benefit from thousands of new jobs; it's a win for the taxpayer
because it doesn't add one penny to the national deficit; third, it
helps the U.S. compete on a global scale. The U.S. EB-5 visa program is
one of more than 20 similar programs run by other important, growing
economies like Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.
Our economy cannot afford to do without these investments or these
jobs. If we don't keep this road open for foreign investment into the
U.S., that investment will choose another country's road. Congress must
extend the EB-5 program so that we can continue to create new jobs at a
time when we need them most.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to
the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch).
Mr. WELCH. I thank the gentlewoman from California, and I thank the
gentleman from Texas.
This is terrific. The EB-5 program works. We're doing it together.
We're working with the Senate, and we're getting something done. Let me
tell you that the place we're getting something done includes the
Sugarbush Valley and the Mad River Valley in Vermont, in the Northeast
Kingdom, where we've had, among other jobs created, two ski areas that
have been able to take advantage of the EB-5 program--to get investor
money and to build the infrastructure that is so essential to the
tourist economy that we have in Vermont. So this is a program that
works, and it is delightful to me to be able to participate in
reinstating this program so that it can continue to help create jobs
and promote economic development in my State of Vermont.
I thank the gentleman from Texas and the gentlewoman from California
for their leadership on this and for the bipartisan team of Senator
Leahy and Senator Grassley in the United States Senate.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. I have no additional speakers, and I
would be happy to yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I just want to thank the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren) for her continued interest
and leadership in the subject of immigration, and I especially
appreciate her support of this bill today.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of
Representatives,
Washington, DC, September 10, 2012.
Hon. Lamar Smith,
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, House of
Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing to confirm our mutual
understanding with respect to the consideration of S. 3245, a
bill that reauthorizes certain immigration provisions. Thank
you for consulting with the Committee on Education and the
Workforce with regard to S. 3245 on those matters within the
committee's jurisdiction.
In the interest of expediting the House's consideration of
S. 3245, the Committee on Education and the Workforce will
forgo further consideration on this bill. However, I do so
only with the understanding that this procedural route will
not be construed to prejudice the committee's jurisdictional
interest and prerogatives on this bill or any other similar
legislation and will not be considered as precedent for
consideration of matters of jurisdictional interest to my
committee in the future.
I respectfully request your support for the appointment of
outside conferees from the Committee on Education and the
Workforce should this bill or a similar bill be considered in
a conference with the Senate. I also request that you include
our exchange of letters on this matter in the Committee
Report on S. 3245 and in the Congressional Record during
consideration of this bill on the House floor. Thank you for
your attention to these matters.
Sincerely,
John Kline,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, September 11, 2012.
Hon. John Kline,
Chairman, Committee on Education and the Workforce,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Kline, Thank you for your letter dated
September 10, 2012 regarding S. 3245, a bill that
reauthorizes certain immigration provisions. I am most
appreciative of your decision to forego consideration of the
bill so that it may move expeditiously to the House floor.
I acknowledge that although you are waiving formal
consideration of the bill, the Committee on Education and the
Workforce is in no way waiving its jurisdiction over the
subject matter contained in the bill. In addition, if a
conference is necessary on this legislation, I will support
any request that your committee be represented therein.
Finally, I shall be pleased to include your letter and this
reply letter memorializing our mutual understanding in the
Congressional Record during floor consideration of S. 3245.
Sincerely,
Lamar Smith,
Chairman.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Chairman Lamar
Smith and S. 3245 which reauthorizes the E-Verify program for an
additional three years.
First, I would like to thank Chairman Smith for his leadership and
support of the E-Verify program. The Chairman has steadfastly supported
E-Verify, helped expand the program and provided for several
reauthorizations. I commend his leadership and value his hard work on
E-Verify and immigration issues.
S. 3245 provides for a simple three year reauthorization of the
popular E-Verify program. In 1996, when I first wrote the legislation
that created the E-Verify pilot program, I had humble expectations.
Now, 16 years after its inception it has 399,538 employers
participating at 1.2 million employer sites. So far in FY 2012, there
have been more than 19.6 million queries run through the system.
Congress and the entire Federal Government is required to use the
system and several states have made use of the program mandatory for
their employers.
E-Verify continues to defy expectations: it is 99.5 percent accurate,
free to employers and easy to use. It continues to develop new ways to
combat illegal employment such as Photo Tool, Self Lock, and Fraud
Alert.
The next step, which Chairman Smith, Subcommittee Chairman Gallegly
and I have been working on, is to make E-Verify mandatory for all
employers in the U.S. With unemployment stuck above 8 percent for the
43rd consecutive month, it is time we ensure that American jobs are
going to American workers and those legally authorized to work in the
U.S. I am hopeful that the House will consider H.R. 2885 before the end
of the year; the only way to truly gain control of our borders is to
end the jobs magnet that brings people here illegally.
In the meantime, it is necessary that we reauthorize E-Verify for an
additional three years and again, I commend Chairman Smith and look
forward to working with him on our efforts to make E-Verify mandatory.
[[Page H5817]]
Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3245,
extending authorization of the EB-5 Regional Center program another
three years to September 2015. The EB-5 program provides conditional
permanent resident status to foreign investors in economic units known
as Regional Centers. In doing so, the program promotes economic growth,
improves regional productivity, and creates jobs in the geographic area
where a Center is located. This is exactly the kind of incentive needed
in my district, the Northern Mariana Islands, which has seen gross
domestic product decline from $1.2 billion in 2002 to $600 million in
2009. Already several proposals have come forward for the Northern
Mariana Islands, predicated on the establishment EB-5 Regional Centers,
that will inject foreign investment capital and create jobs. These
Regional Centers do not just represent jobs and salary for their direct
employees--they represent investments in our community. For every new
job created, and for every additional dollar of salary paid, our
workforce and pay scale are benefitted across the board. The extension
of this program provided in S. 3245 will ensure that these
opportunities can continue to benefit our economy. I commend Senator
Leahy and Senator Grassley for introducing this bipartisan legislation
and the bipartisan House leadership for bringing this bill to the floor
for approval.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chaffetz). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend
the rules and pass the bill, S. 3245.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
____________________