NDN's Take on Day Two of Judiciary Mark Up of Senate Immigration Bill

On Tuesday, May 14, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be considering amendments relating to employment-based visas in the bipartisan immigration bill, S. 744. Judiciary.  After a thorough review of the purposed Amendments, NDN urges adoption and defeat of the following 13 Amendments:  

We do not support the following:

Senator Orin Hatch’s Amendment # 19:  would exempt employers of temporary workers from complying with labor and employment laws.

Senator Orin Hatch’s Amendment # 20 would strike the term “any person’’ and insert the following: ‘‘an aggrieved applicant, employee, or non-immigrant (or a person acting on such person’s behalf).

Senator Grassley's Amendments #73 & #74  would restrict temporary workers (new "W" visa recipients) from renewing their visas, and would require all temporary workers to provide proof that they can and are paying for their own health insurance, which could effectively prevent almost all temporary workers from entering the U.S.

We support

Senator Blumenthal’s Amendment # 13 Would provide whistleblower protections for temporary workers.

Senator Blumenthal’s Amendment # 17 would ensure that workers have the right to a pay stub so that they can prove employment status for the pathway to citizenship.

Senator Schumer's Amendment #5  Would help workers change employers without the risk of losing their visa, and would provide an electronic monitoring system for the program.

Hatch Amendment #9  creates a STEM fund focused on K-12, post-secondary, and continuing education programs that will help reverse trends contributing to today's STEM shortages, making our long-term economic needs a priority.

Amendment #10 corrects the current H-1b escalator formula, increasing the number of H-1b visas, job creating U.S. innovators are seeking.

Amendment #11 leaves in rules regarding the management of the foreign professional, but also do away with attestation, and replace it with a fee that contributes to training U.S. workers.

Amendment #12 achieves the goal of protecting U.S. job creation AND U.S. workers by stripping out burdensome regulation from job creators.

Amendment #13 fixes ambiguous standards for job creators by changing language penalizing innovators by not allowing them to hire any foreign professionals for 6 months if they have had net layoffs.   

Amendment #17 accounts for hiring delays caused by onerous processing applications, improves the system for good employers, by pointing out the practical application of the law.

Hatch Amendments 9-13 and 17 are particularly important as they ensure that the high-skilled visa reform envisioned in the Senate Gang of Eight bill is workable, and does not become too difficult to implement for well-intentioned US companies.  

And be sure to review NDN’s take on the first day of the Senate Judiciary Committee Mark-Up.