Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Amended H1B Bill

(April 2, 1998)  The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved a substitute version of S 1723, Sen. Abraham's H1B bill, by a vote of 14 to 6.  The Committee first rejected S 1878, an alternative bill offered by Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Feinstein.  S 1723 will likely be taken up by the Senate soon after it returns from its Spring recess.  These bill address the shortage of high tech workers.

The substitute bill approved by the Committee contains several significant changes from the version that was introduced in the Senate a month ago.  The increase in the H1B visa cap now has a 5 year sunset provision.  The increase in the H1B cap now has a hard figure of 95,000 for FY 1999.

The bill was debated for over an hour.  Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) spoke on behalf of his new bill, while Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) pleaded for theirs.  Feinstein worried that the H1B visa program has become "a backdoor immigration program, because fifty percent of the people who come in under (H1B) remain".

The Committee discussed why there was a shortage of IT professionals.  "We need to find out why these needs continue to exist," said Sen. Kyl (R-AZ).  "Some folks say we just can't educate kids for these jobs."   Feinstein opined that "this program is an indictment of our education system."

Both S 1723 and S 1878 contain authorization or funding for education and training.  However, how much money would actually end up educating people under either bill would be uncertain.  Sen. Kennedy touted his bill, saying that it had $100 Million for training which will be funded out of employer fees for H1B applications.   "The Abraham bill, on the other hand, relies on taxpayer funding for such training, and must compete for funds in the regular appropriations process," he said.   Yet, the Kennedy bill sets the maximum fee at $250 and the H1B cap at 90,000, thus resulting in maximum funding of only $22.5 Million, not including revenues from fines and penalties on employers.

Abraham's bill authorizes money to be spent on scholarships.  However, there is no money appropriated, or any tax created, for this purpose.  Sen. Abraham said that he did not do so, in part because that would have given an additional Senate committee jurisdiction over the bill.

The Committee first voted on the Kennedy - Feinstein bill.  It failed in a straight party-line vote of 10 to 8.  The Committee then voted on the Abraham substitute bill.  It passed 14 to 6, with two Democrats joining to support: Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI).   Senators Leahy (D-VT), Biden (D-DE),  Durbin, Feingold (D-WI), Kennedy (D-MA), and Torricelli (D-NJ) voted no.  All of the Republicans on the committee voted for the Abraham bill: Hatch (R-UT), Abraham (R-MI), Ashcroft (R-MO), DeWine (R-OH), Grassley (R-IA), Kyl (R-AZ), Sessions, Specter (R-PA), Thompson (R-TN), and Thurmond (R-SC).  Several Senators voted by proxy.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, presided at the hearing.  Sen. Patrick Leahy is the Ranking Minority Member of the Committee.  Sen. Abraham is Chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. Lee Lieberman Otis, Counsel to the Immigration Subcommittee, is Sen. Abraham's primary staff assistant on this issue.