Fw: URGENT ALERT! Senate Voting Tommorrow on Amdt to Stop Foreign Worker/Immigration Increase

        

        URGENT ALERT!

            Senate Voting Tomorrow on Amendment to Strip Foreign 
Worker/Immigration Increase from Deficit Reduction Bill

            Call your Senators Immediately and Urge a YES Vote for the Byrd 
Amendment

            THIS JUST IN.Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) has decided to offer an 
amendment tomorrow to the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005 
(S. 1932) that will strip out language added by the Judiciary Committee that 
sells out American workers by expanding employment-based visas, H-1B high tech 
worker visas and accompanying family members by an estimated 368,000 per year.  

            PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS IMMEDIATELY AND URGE A YES VOTE FOR THE 
BYRD AMENDMENT. This will come up tomorrow, so we have less than 24 hours to 
make an impact.  If you call during business hours, ask to speak with or leave 
a message for the legislative assistant handling immigration.  If calling after 
business hours, please leave a message on your senators' voicemail.  Call the 
Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask to be connected, or find direct 
phone numbers here <http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=5XdGYi6cAOvHBdM2lnZEpQ..>on 
our web site.  

            Sample Message:

            "I am a concerned constituent calling to urge Senator (insert name) 
to vote in favor of an amendment expected to be offered tomorrow to the Deficit 
Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005 by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV).  
This amendment reverses action taken by the Senate Judiciary Committee to 
increase revenue by selling over 368,000 American jobs a year to foreign 
workers and their families who will enter the United States and stay 
permanently.  

            Sen. Byrd's amendment accomplishes even greater savings without 
making wholesale changes to our immigration system by adopting the House 
Judiciary Committee proposal to raise the fees on L-1 intra-company transferees 
to $1,500 per visa.

            Please vote yes when this amendment comes up for consideration.  If 
not, one of the largest immigration increases in American history will be 
passed without a public hearing or proper debate under the guise of deficit 
reduction."  

            Background/Amendment Details:

            Last week, without a public hearing or even a warning, the Senate 
Judiciary Committee inserted language authored by Judiciary Chairman Arlen 
Specter (R-PA) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) that increases revenue by 
selling over 368,000 American jobs a year to foreign workers and their families 
who will enter the United States and stay permanently.   

            The Specter/Kennedy language would increase the number of H-1B 
workers by 30,000 each year, increase the number of permanent employment-based 
visas by 90,000 each year, and exempt families of these new workers from the 
140,000 annual cap on employment-based immigration.  This will add an estimated 
278,000 family members - many of them will also find jobs in the United States 
- to the number of high tech and permanent new foreign workers allowed under 
the plan.  If enacted, the Specter plan would constitute one of the largest 
immigration increases in American history under the guise of deficit reduction. 
 

            The Committee was charged with finding $60 million in FY 06 and 
$300 million over the period between FY 20006 and FY 2010. The Specter/Kennedy 
language raises fees on H-1B and permanent employment-based visas charged to 
employers to accomplish savings.  Sen. Byrd's amendment strips out the 
Specter/Kennedy language and replaces it with the House Judiciary Committee 
proposal to raise the fees on L-1 intra-company transferees to $1,500 per visa.

            What is clear enough from the Senate Judiciary Committee's action 
is that it is a thinly disguised plan deliberately concocted to hide a major 
immigration expansion in the name of reducing the deficit. Sen. Byrd's 
amendment properly finds required savings without making wholesale changes to 
our immigration system. 

            For more details, read our letter to Sen. 
Byrd<http://www.fairus.org/site/R?i=uEvVXTWnOA1amjP-ou81SQ..>.


           
       
     


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