[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 19343-19344]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                               H-1B VISAS

  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I am tempted to jump into the debate about 
education. The problem is not people taking courses. It is learning 
something from the courses you are taking.
  I remind my colleagues that the SAT test changed several years ago so 
that the minimum requirements to play football in division 1 went up 
from 700 to 840. You might think: Rejoice, we have raised academic 
standards in athletics in college. The truth is, the test was 
recentered so that everybody's score was raised by 140 points at that 
level. I do not look at Senator Kennedy's test scores and rejoice that 
we now have achieved the level we had in 1961. Can you imagine any 
other debate in America where people say: We have great success; we 
have equaled what America did in 1961.
  I don't call that success. I call that failure. I call that failure 
because with all the resources we are spending, the fact that we have 
yet to achieve what we had achieved in 1961 is the greatest indictment 
of our education bureaucracy and a failed system that believes

[[Page 19344]]

that Federal control and Federal money is the answer.
  But I am not going to discuss that right now. I want to remind people 
of what has happened all day today here in the Senate. Our Democrat 
colleagues say they are for the H-1B program. They say they want to 
allow high-tech workers to come into the country to help us continue to 
dominate the world in high-tech jobs so that we can continue to have 
economic growth. They go out to Silicon Valley and say: We are with 
you. We are for the H-1B program. Yet they have spent all day 
filibustering it.
  I don't understand it. You are either for it or you are against it. 
Now they say: Well, we are for it, but you have to pass a whole bunch 
of bills doing other things before we are going to let you adopt it.
  I think it is time for those who need this bill to say to our 
Democrat colleagues: If you are for the bill, let us vote on it.
  We have all heard the cliche, ``if you have friends like that, you 
don't need enemies.'' The point I want to remind people about is that 
all day long, the Democrats have been filibustering the H-1B program. 
So if anybody thinks they are for it, the next time they stand up and 
say they are for the program, I think the obvious thing to ask is, if 
you are for it, why are you holding it up?
  We need this bill because we want to keep America growing. I believe 
our Democrat colleagues are putting politics in front of people. This 
bill is important to maintain economic growth. It is important to 
maintain our technical superiority.
  I want people to know, with all the thousands of issues that have 
found their way to the floor of the Senate this afternoon, that what 
this debate is about is that our Democrat colleagues say they are for 
the H-1B program, but they are preventing us from voting on it. If you 
are for it, let us vote on it then. If you are for it, end all these 
extraneous debates. If you want to debate giving amnesty to people who 
violated America's law, then offer that somewhere else. Propose a bill, 
but let us vote on the H-1B program.
  Why do we need it? We need it because we want to maintain the 
economic expansion that is pulling people out of poverty. We want to 
maintain our technological edge. But we can't do those things if the 
Democrats don't let us pass this bill.
  If you are following this debate, don't be confused. They say they 
are for H-1B, the passage of this bill, but they are working every day 
to throw up roadblocks, to stop it, and to demand some payment for 
letting us pass it.
  Let me make it clear, no tribute is going to be paid on this bill. 
There is not going to be a deal where they get paid off to pass this 
bill. They go to California and to Texas and other places and say: We 
are for the high-tech industry. We are for the H-1B program. But the 
cold reality is that on the floor of the Senate today, we did not get 
to vote on it. We did not get to pass it. We did not make it law. We 
did not do what we need to do to maintain this economic prosperity and 
to maintain our edge in the high-tech area because the Democrats are 
filibustering H-1B. They say they are for it, but when it gets right 
down to it, actions speak louder than words.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brownback). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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