[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 18 (Thursday, January 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S521-S524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. HATCH (for himself and Mr. Flake):
S. 2344. A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to
authorize additional visas for well-educated aliens to live and work in
the United States, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the
Judiciary.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the pressing need
to reform our high-skilled immigration system. This is an issue I've
championed for a number of years and one that becomes only more urgent
with each passing season.
It is also an issue that I believe ties in directly with the recent
discussions we have been having about merit-based immigration. As I
said on the floor last week, high-skilled immigration is merit-based
immigration. It is immigration targeted at the best, the brightest, and
the most highly educated. It is immigration targeted at individuals who
have the skills employers need. If we want to have a discussion about
individuals who will add value to our economy, who will bring critical
skills to the table, and who will help keep our country competitive,
high-skilled immigration is what we should be talking about.
For years, we have had a system for bringing high-skilled workers
from other countries to the United States to fill jobs for which there
is a shortage of American labor. This system does not replace American
jobs. Rather, it supplements our workforce with talent from other
countries in industries where there are simply not enough qualified
American workers to meet demand.
But the system is badly out of date. To begin with, it caps the
number of high-skilled worker visas--also called H-1B visas--that
employers can obtain each year at a number that is far below demand.
This year, just like last year and the year before, USCIS reached the
annual cap on H-1B visas within the first week that visa petitions
could be submitted. In fact, during that single week, USCIS received
over twice as many visa petitions as there were available visas.
[[Page S522]]
Our laws also lack a straightforward path for companies to hire
American-educated students from other countries on a permanent basis
after graduation. We educate some of the world's best and brightest
here in America and then send them back home because they can't get
permanent work in the United States. That makes no sense. In fact, it
is just plain stupid.
There is also a significant backlog for skilled professionals and
advanced degree holders who want to come to the United States on green
cards. These are the very individuals we should be encouraging to come
to our country--individuals who have the technical skills our science
and technology companies need and who will earn good salaries and
contribute meaningfully to our economy--and yet we respire them to wait
years and years to obtain a green card. Again, you want to talk about
merit-based immigration? These are the folks we should be welcoming to
our country with enthusiasm. Instead, we throw up barrier after barrier
until many simply give up.
At the same time, a handful of companies have found ways to game the
H-1B system to displace American employees with lower paid foreign
workers. We have all seen the news stories: American workers told they
are being replaced with foreign personnel and that if they want to
receive a severance package or a positive employer reference, they
better train their replacements. These stories disgust me as they
should disgust all Americans. Under no circumstances should an employer
be able to use a program that was designed to mitigate workforce
shortages to put hardworking Americans out of a job. That was never the
intent of the H-1B program, and it must not be allowed to continue.
There are also other problems with the H-1B program that we need to
fix. Too often, large employers crowd out small businesses by
submitting far more visa petitions than they actually need. This
practice can lead to wasted visas and puts small employers at a
significant disadvantage in the H-1B lottery.
Another problem concerns H-1B workers who wish to transition to green
card status. Because of the significant backlog in employment-based
green cards, high-skilled workers who wish to come to the United States
on a permanent basis often start out on H-1B visas, and because of
quirks in our immigration laws, these workers must stay with their
original sponsoring employers until green cards become available, which
may take 10 years or longer. During this time, the employee may be
forced to accept below-market wages or suboptimal working conditions
just to stay in the green card queue. If the employee were to take a
higher paying, or better, job at another company, the employee would
lose his or her place in the green card line. This creates a power
imbalance between H-1B workers and employers that leads to a whole host
of issues.
So there are a number of problems we need to address with our high-
skilled immigration system.
That's why today I am introducing my Immigration Innovation Act, or
I-Squared, to bring our high-skilled immigration system into the 21st
century. This critical legislation contains reforms that will end
abuse, provide a clearer path for individuals educated in the United
States to stay in the United States, and enable employers more easily
to hire the talent they need.
I would like to thank my good friend from Arizona, Senator Flake, for
cosponsoring I-Squared. Senator Flake and I have worked together for a
long time on this issue, and I am grateful for his leadership.
Many of my colleagues are familiar will I-Squared. I have introduced
previous versions in the last two Congresses. The version I am
introducing today, however, has a number of important changes. In many
ways, it is a different bill. Allow me to highlight some of the
changes.
Like previous versions, my updated I-Squared bill raises the annual
H-1B cap to better meet market demand. In fact, it ties the cap to
market demand so that the cap increases and decreases as demand
increases and decreases. It also enables H-1B workers to change jobs
without losing their H-1B status and allows foreign students attending
American universities to declare an intent to stay in the United States
following graduation so they can more easily secure full-time
employment. Lastly, the bill authorizes the recapture of unused green
cards from previous years and eliminates per-country green card caps,
which unfairly discriminate against individuals from countries with
larger numbers of applicants.
Here is what is new to I-Squared this Congress.
First, and most importantly, the bill creates an express prohibition
on hiring an H-1B worker with the purpose and intent to replace an
American worker. That was never the intent of the H-1B program and must
not be allowed to happen.
Second, the bill creates an express prohibition on conditioning an
employee's pay or severance on training an H-1B replacement.
Third, the bill raises the level-1 wage employers must pay to prevent
employers from using H-1B workers to undercut labor costs.
Fourth, the bill updates the 1998 law that exempts H-1B employers
from certain recruitment and non-displacement requirements if the
employer pays its H-1B employees a high enough salary. Specifically,
the bill raises the salary threshold to match inflation and eliminates
the exemption altogether for particularly heavy users of H-1Bs.
Fifth, the bill imposes penalties on employers who file more H-1B
petitions than they need to prevent large, cash-rich employers from
freezing out small businesses. All of these provisions will work to
tamp down on the abuses we have seen in the H-1B system.
My updated I-Squared bill will also end the problem of H-1B workers
who are on the path to a green card from being locked into their
current jobs by enabling such workers to change jobs earlier in the
process without losing their places in the green card line, and it
creates a new, streamlined green card process for high-skilled workers
who wish to come to the United States on a permanent basis to obtain
conditional residency without having to use the cumbersome H-1B system.
Many of the problems with our current H-1B program stem from the fact
that workers seeking temporary employment and workers seeking long-term
employment are funneled into the same system. My updated I-Squared bill
will help separate these two employment streams in ways that will
benefit both employers and employees.
Finally, my updated I-Squared bill will provide nearly $1 billion in
new funding for STEM education and worker training programs without
raising a single cent in taxes. It does this by increasing fees for H-
1B petitions and green cards and directing the new funding to State
block grants for STEM training.
In many ways, this last piece is the most important provision of I-
Squared. The STEM disciplines--science, technology, engineering, and
math--are going to be critical to our country's success in the coming
decades. Increased funding for STEM education and worker training
programs will help ensure that we have the workforce we need to succeed
in the global economy. It will help produce more graduates with the
computer science and engineering skills high-tech employers require. It
will enable workers displaced by globalization and the changing economy
to acquire new, in-demand skills so they can restart their careers, and
if we're successful, increased STEM funding may even reduce the demand
for H-1B and other skilled visas in the first place because it will
better align our workforce with employer needs.
I-Squared is supported by a broad coalition of tech commies, trade
associations, and other job creators. I ask unanimous consent at this
time to be printed in the Record a number of letters in support of the
bill, including letters from the Information Technology Industry
Council and the Semiconductor Industry Association. Other key
stakeholders who will be issuing statements of support include
Microsoft, Facebook, the Internet Association, and the Software
Alliance.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[[Page S523]]
ITI,
Washington, DC, January 22, 2018.
Re Immigration Innovation Act of 2018.
Hon. Orrin Hatch,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Hatch: On behalf of the 60 members of the
Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), I write to
express our strong support for your legislation, the
Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act of 2018. ITI is the
voice of the high-tech community, advocating for policies
that advance U.S. leadership in technology and innovation,
open access to new and emerging markets, protect and enhance
consumer choice, and encourage domestic and global
competition. Our membership includes companies from all
verticals of the technology sector, including semiconductor,
network equipment, software, digital services, hardware,
mobile device, and internet companies.
We have long advocated for changes to our immigration
system that allow employers to attract and retain the world's
best and highly-educated employees so that we can continue to
innovate and compete in a global marketplace. Our members are
committed to growing the U.S. economy and creating jobs for--
and protecting--American workers. In fact, in the tech
sector, we are producing jobs faster than we can fill them.
In 2016, there were approximately 3.3 million science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) job openings
posted online. By contrast, in that same year, U.S.
universities graduated 568,000 students with STEM degrees. To
meet this job demand, it is vital we not only provide STEM
education and training to more American students and workers,
but that we also ensure U.S.-based employers can recruit the
top talent from American universities and from abroad.
The United States is in dire need of a renewed skilled
immigration system and the economic benefits of such reforms
could not be clearer. For example, over 230,000 additional
computer-related jobs would have been created for American
workers if not for the 2007 and 2008 H-1B visa petition
denials. Furthermore, more than half of the startup companies
valued at over $1 billion in the United States were founded
by at least one immigrant, many of whom initially came here
on H-1B visas. On average, each of these companies now
employs 760 Americans. Yet, our broken immigration system
continues to stymie such talent and future innovation.
ITI welcomes the introduction of the I-Squared Act of 2018.
This critical legislation would upgrade our immigration
system for the 21st century economy in several ways. First,
it will reset the number of H-1B visas and allow their
availability to adjust to meet market demands. Second, it
reforms the green card system in ways that will reduce the
current backlog, and enable the most exceptional and highly-
skilled foreign-born individuals to innovate, start new
companies, and advance their professional development and
success in the United States. Third, the legislation reflects
our industry's commitment to protect American workers, as
well as our support for domestic STEM education and training
programs.
The I-Squared Act is much-need legislation that will enable
skilled workers who wish to work in the United States to
propel American innovation, engender growth in our economy,
and help create jobs here at home. We commend you for your
diligence on this important issue and urge both the House and
Senate to support this important legislation.
Sincerely,
Dean C. Garfield,
President and CEO.
____
Semiconductor
Industry Association,
Washington, DC, January 24, 2018.
Hon. Orrin Hatch,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Hatch: On behalf the Semiconductor Industry
Association (SIA), I am writing to express our strong support
for the Immigration Innovation Act of 2018 (``I-Squared
Act'').
High-skilled immigration reform is a critical priority for
the U.S. semiconductor industry. In order to compete
globally, SIA member companies require the talent of the best
and brightest scientists and engineers in the world. U.S.
colleges and universities attract the best students to
America to obtain advanced degrees in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM). Many of these students
significantly contribute to the U.S. innovation ecosystem
through federally and privately funded research during their
graduate training. Upon graduation, these highly educated
STEM graduates very often want to work in the U.S., but are
too often compelled to return to their home countries where
they compete with U.S. companies. This has the impact of
reducing the competitiveness of U.S. companies and
restricting growth of our economy.
The I-Squared Act would strengthen the U.S. economy and
promote innovation by making important improvements to the H-
1B and the green card programs. These necessary reforms will
help spur innovation and create thousands of high paying
manufacturing and research jobs here in America.
SIA appreciates your leadership on the I-Squared Act, and
we look forward to working with you to ensure its prompt
enactment into law.
Sincerely,
John Neuffer,
President & CEO.
____
Council for Global Immigration and Society for Human
Resource Management,
January 25, 2018.
CFGI and SHRM Applaud Immigration Innovation Act of 2018
The I-Squared bill is the right solution for employers and the
workforce
Alexandria, Va.--The Council for Global Immigration (CFGI)
and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) applaud
today's introduction of the Immigration Innovation Act of
2018 (I-Squared). The bill includes provisions to modernize
the high-skilled employment-based immigration system in a way
that would work for all who have a stake in immigration,
including employers and the workforce.
The legislation, introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), would establish a voluntary
trusted employer program, among other provisions. Consistent
with a CFGI proposal, a trusted employer program would make
the system more efficient for employers and the government.
``This legislation would ensure that employers acting in
good faith have access to the top global talent they need to
compete, while providing additional resources to train and
educate U.S. workers in high-demand STEM fields,'' said Lynn
Shotwell, executive director of CFGI. ``It would also reform
the H-1B program with enhanced protections for U.S. workers,
an important change that CFGI supports.
``We endorse the bill's provision that would keep today's
green card system in place, but provide a more direct path to
a green card when there are no able, willing or qualified
U.S. workers available,'' Shotwell continued. ``This option
would make it easier for professionals to accept employment
with new employers, a key change we support. We will include
this legislation in Congress as part of our advocacy efforts
to advance fair, innovative and competitive immigration
reforms.''
The members of CFGI and SHRM are working to create a 21st
century workplace that empowers employers and the workforce
to compete and win in an increasingly competitive global
economy. Building an immigration system that is fair,
innovative and competitive is a critical component to
realizing this goal.
``We applaud Senators Hatch and Flake for their commitment
to invest in the future of the U.S. workforce and modernize
our nation's outdated employment-based immigration system in
a way that works for the workforce,'' said Mike Aitken,
SHRM's vice president of government affairs.
``This legislation addresses many of the serious challenges
facing employers navigating the current maze of immigration
laws and regulations, including eliminating green card
backlogs and modernizing the H-1B visa system,'' Aitken
added. ``These reforms are a critical component to building
and supporting a 21st century workplace in which employers
and the workforce can thrive.''
CFGI and SHRM are eager to work on the bill as it moves
forward.
____
SIIA Says I-Squared Act Is Critical for U.S. Economy and Global
Competitiveness
[Jan. 25, 2018]
Washington D.C.--The Software & Information Industry
Association (SIIA) today welcomed the introduction of the
``Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act of 2018,'' by
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ).
SIIA Senior Vice President for Public Policy, Mark
MacCarthy, issued the following statement:
``The U.S. IT industry--and the American economy more
broadly--has long benefited from the contributions of highly-
educated workers, regardless of where they were born. The I-
Squared Act will make critical reforms to the U.S.
immigration laws to help U.S. companies attract and retain
the best and most innovative employees from around the world.
``This bill will greatly enable continued U.S. innovation,
job creation, and economic expansion, while preventing abuses
of the H-1B program that could harm U.S. workers. The
legislation also promotes the American education system by
funding state grants to promote STEM education and training
in the U.S.
``SIIA thanks Senators Hatch and Flake for co-sponsoring
the I-Squared Act, and we look forward to working with them
and other congressional leaders to enact this critical
legislation.''
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, there is a lot of debate about immigration
right now. We all know that we need to do something about DACA. I know
that as well as anyone. I have been working on a solution for the
Dreamer population for a very long time, and we are going to find a
solution. We also need to do something about border security and
interior enforcement so we don't end up back in the same place 20 years
from now.
But we can walk and chew gum at the same time, and I think talking
about merit-based immigration is a good thing. It is an important
principle.
[[Page S524]]
As we do so, we need to remember that we already have merit-based
programs built into our existing immigration laws. The problem is those
programs aren't working the way they are supposed to. They are not
properly aligned with employer needs, and in their current set-up,
there is too much room for waste and abuse.
My I-Squared bill will fix both of those problems. It will help
ensure we have the talent in our country that we need to succeed. It
will also help equip the next generation of Americans to meet the
demands of our increasingly tech-driven economy.
I-Squared will also help put an end to the troubling abuses we have
seen in the H-1B program and ensure that the program is used as it was
intended--to supplement, not replace, American labor.
I repeat what I said at the outset: High-skilled immigration is
merit-based immigration. It is immigration targeted at the best, the
brightest, and the most highly educated.
As we debate how to improve our immigration system, let us keep in
mind that we already have merit-based programs in our existing laws.
Thinking outside the box is important, but it is also important not to
overlook what is right here in front of us.
My I-Squared bill will help ensure that we have a high-skilled
immigration system that works, that meets employer needs, that keeps
America competitive, and that prepares the next generation of Americans
to succeed. It is commonsense legislation; It is balanced legislation;
and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.
______
By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Brown,
Mr. Cruz, Mr. Heller, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Portman, and Mr.
Hatch):
S. 2345. A bill to amend the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of
2000 to provide additional resources to State and local prosecutors,
and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2345
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Justice Served Act of
2018''.
SEC. 2. PROSECUTION OF DNA COLD CASES.
(a) Debbie Smith Dna Backlog Grant Program.--Section 2 of
the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C.
40701) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
``(9) To increase the capacity of State and local
prosecution offices to address the backlog of violent crime
cases in which suspects have been identified through DNA
evidence.''; and
(2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Allocation of grant awards for prosecutors.--For each
fiscal year, not less than 5 percent, but not more than 7
percent, of the grant amounts distributed under paragraph (1)
shall, if sufficient applications to justify such amounts are
received by the Attorney General, be awarded for purposes
described in subsection (a)(9), provided that none of the
funds required to be distributed under this paragraph shall
decrease or otherwise limit the availability of funds
required to be awarded to States or units of local government
under paragraph (3).''.
(b) Prosecution of Cold Cases.--Of the amounts made
available to the Attorney General under section 2 of the DNA
Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701)
for a DNA Analysis and capacity enhancement program and for
other local, State, and Federal forensic activities for the
purpose described in section 2 of the DNA Analysis Backlog
Elimination Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 40701) under the heading
``state and local law enforcement assistance'' under the
heading ``Office of Justice Programs'' under the heading
``DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'' in fiscal years 2019, 2020, 2021,
and 2022 not less than 5 percent, but not more than 7
percent, of such amounts shall be provided for grants for
prosecutors to increase the capacity of State and local
prosecution offices to address the cold cases involving
violent crime, where suspects have been identified through
DNA evidence.
____________________