Statement by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
Re: H1-B Visas.
Date: July 10, 2000.
Source: Congressional Record, July 10, 2000, page S6341.

See also, Tech Law Journal Summary of Bills Regarding Visas for High Tech Workers in the 106th Congress.

H-1B VISAS AND ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
(Senate - July 10, 2000)

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I just want to take a moment of the Senate's time to speak about the two issues that have been talked about recently. One is the H-1B visa issue, to which the majority leader referred, as did Senator Reid and Senator Dorgan, which will lift the caps so that we can have available to American industry some of the able, gifted, and talented individuals who have come to this country and who can continue to make a difference in terms of our economy.

We are in the process--at least I thought so, as a member of the Immigration Subcommittee--of working with Senator Abraham from the State of Michigan, in working that process through to try to respond to the concerns that the leadership have; and that is that we debate that issue in a timely way, with a limited number of amendments, and that we reach a final conclusion in a relatively short period of time.

I had believed that those negotiations, at least from our side, were very much on track. During the negotiations, we had talked to the White House as well as with the House Judiciary Committee members, all of whom have an obvious interest.

So it did come as kind of a surprise--not that we are not prepared to move ahead. I would be prepared to move ahead even this evening. I do not know where the Senator from Michigan, who has the prime responsibility for that legislation, is this evening. He is not on the floor. But he has been conscientious in addressing that question.

One of the fundamental concerns--as we move toward permitting a number of individuals who have special skills to come in and fill in with the special slots that are crying out for need in our economy--is a recognition that, within our society, these are jobs that eventually should be available to American workers. There is nothing magical about these particular jobs--that if Americans have the opportunity for training, for additional kinds of education, they would be well qualified to hold these jobs.

Many of us have believed, as we have addressed the immediate need for the increase, that we also ought to address additional kinds of training programs, so that in the future we will have these kinds of high-paying jobs which offer enormous hope and opportunity to individuals, as well as the companies for whom they work, being made available to Americans. We discussed and debated those issues with the Judiciary Committee. We made pretty good progress on those issues. So I think there is a broad degree of support in terms of trying to address that issue.

But there are also some particular matters that cry out for justice as well. When you look back on the immigration issues, there were probably 350,000, perhaps 400,000 individuals who qualified for an amnesty program that was part of the law. As a result of a court holding that was actually overturned, all of these individuals' lives have been put at risk and, without any degree of certainty, subject to instances of deportation. So we wanted to try to address this issue. It seems to me that could be done in a relatively short period of time. It is a question of fundamental decency and fundamental justice.

We treat individuals who come from Central American countries differently, depending upon which country they come from. Therefore, there was some desire we would have a common position with regard to individuals. Senator Moynihan had introduced legislation to that effect. That is basically a question of equity. There are really no surprises. It is not a new subject to Members of the Senate. It is something about which many of us have heard, on different occasions, when we have been back to see our constituencies.

These are some of the items that I think we could reach, if there were differences, a reasonable time agreement. But they are fundamental in terms of justice and fairness to individuals and their families.

If we are going to consider one aspect of change in the immigration law, it is not unreasonable to say if we are going to address that now, we ought to at least have the Senate vote in a responsible way on these other matters in a relatively short period of time so the Senate can be meeting its responsibilities in these other areas. So I look forward to the early consideration of this bill.

This isn't the first time we have dealt with the H-1B issue. We made some changes a few years ago. We were able to work it out in a bipartisan way. There is no reason that American industry should have concern that we are not going to take action. We will take action. Hopefully, we will do it in the next 3 weeks. There is no reason we should not.

The other issue is the question of elementary and secondary education. I certainly understand the responsibilities we have in completing Defense authorization, which is enormously important legislation. I am heartened by what the majority leader has said with regard to the follow-on in terms of elementary and secondary education. That is a priority for all American families. We ought to debate it. The principal fact is that we have debated it for 6 days and we have had seven amendments. Three of them were virtually unanimous. We didn't have to have any rollcall votes. On 2 of the 6 days, we were restricted because we were forbidden to offer amendments and have votes. We haven't had a very busy time with that as compared to the bankruptcy legislation, where we had 15 days and more than 55 amendments.

In allocating time, we are asking for fairness to the American families on education. If the Senate is going to take 15 days and have 55 amendments on bankruptcy legislation, we can take a short period of time--2 or 3 days--and have good debate on the question of elementary and secondary education, which is so important to families across the country.

With all respect to the majority leader, the issue of school safety is out there. We need to ensure that we will do everything we possibly can to make sure we are not only going to have small class sizes, well-trained teachers, afterschool programs, efforts to try to help to respond to the needed repairs that are so necessary to so many schools across this country, and strong accountability provisions but make sure that, even if we are able to get those, the schools are going to be safe. We have measures we believe the Senate should address to make them safe.

If the majority is going to continue to, in a real way, filibuster, effectively, the consideration of elementary and secondary education by never bringing the matter before the Senate, they bear the responsibility of doing so. It is their responsibility. Every family in this country ought to understand that because they have the power, the authority, and the responsibility to put that before the Senate. If there is a question in terms of the relevancy or nonrelevancy of a particular amendment, the Senate can make that decision. But when we are denying families in this country the opportunity to address that and respond to it, we do a disservice to the families and to the children in this country, and, I believe, to the Senate itself.

This issue isn't going to go away. It will not go away. We may have only 3 more weeks, but we are going to continue to press it. We are going to press it all during July and all during September as well. It will not go away. Elementary and secondary education needs to be addressed. We have to take action. We owe it to the American families, and we have every intention of pursuing it.

I thank the Chair.