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Senator Bernie Sanders(I-VT) and Senator Chuck Grassley(R-IA) managed to get a increase in H-1B guest worker Visa fees attached to  H.R. 3043:  Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. 

The Senate adopted by voice vote a Grassley-Sanders amendment, S.AMDT.3325 to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill.  The amendment would increase fees on H-1B employers by $3,500.  About $3,000 of this fee increase would be targeted to $15,000 scholarships in math, science, engineering, and healthcare.  About $500 of the fee increase would be dedicated to the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Program.  No increase in H-1B visas was included in the amendment or the bill last night so the basic cap remains at 65,000.

Doesn’t it make sense to charge a fee to those investing in temporary talent from abroad and use it to invest in permanent talent for the future here at home? - Senator Chuck Grassley

Previous background information from Sander’s office on the amendment: 

Support the Grassley-Sanders Amendment to Provide Scholarships in Math, Science, Engineering and Nursing by Increasing H-1B Visa Fees on Employers

Background

Employers argue that they need the H-1B visa program because of a claimed lack of qualified…

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With friends like these who needs enemies?  The IEEE-USA issued a statement supporting turning our University system into a glorified green card machine. They also have literally teamed up with a corporate lobbyist organization, the SIA, to issue their policy position.  The IEEE-USA claims to be concerned about career and labor issues for it’s United States citizens, American members.  Why would they betray their own members and issue policy that is a notorious and obvious method to flood the US labor supply and cause further erosion of U.S. engineers’ careers?

The Center for Immigration Studies gives some hints as to why.

The “free green card” proposals also comprise a response to the academic lobby, as U.S. universities have seen their foreign applicant pools for graduate programs shrink in recent years. Students in other countries are less interested in study here these days because the U.S. job market is poor while opportunities back home are burgeoning.   This is causing academics to panic, since their lucrative federal research funding depends on having the “bodies” to work in the labs. Graduate study at the PhD level is unattractive to American students because the graduate assistant stipend is so low, as is the salary premium paid to PhDs…

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It appears that Costa Rica, the lone hold out in not ratifying the CAFTA-DR trade agreement, is now under enormous pressure and strong arm tactics.   

We are on the eve of discovering 

whether the bullying, propaganda, and threats worked or not.  The ratification vote is tomorrow.

From Eyes On Trade

Just when you thought the Bush administration was at its most shameful, it gets even worse.  Just hours before Costa Rica goes to the polls to decide the fate of CAFTA, the Bush administration released yet another statement trying to intimidate Costa Ricans into approving CAFTA

Late Saturday night, the Bush Administration issued more threats to demand Costa Rica approve this bad deal.  A few Senators isssued a complaint about this most “undemocratic” behavior.

Similar remarks earlier in the week from U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab elicited a complaint from Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. In a letter to Bush sent Friday, they urged him “to make it clear that the United States is not threatening retaliation against the people of Costa Rica for exercising their right to vote.

Senator Bernie Sanders on trade:

Free trade is very good for the large multinational corporations who can throw American workers out on…

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