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Once again, it’s the Bill Gates propaganda show on Capital Hill. 

This time Gates got his own personal hearing in front of the House Science Committee.  Of course our representatives fawned and flattered, despite the fact Gates was spewing lies of astounding proportions. 

Like a fountain of fictional statements,  Bill Gates spouted his global labor arbitrage agenda.  Spread like rancid butter across our Unrepresentative of America Congress, most just licked their lips in Bill Gates adulation.   

Let’s go through some of the spin.

The threat from Bill Gates:  Microsoft will offshore outsource jobs because Congress won’t let us bring in unlimited cheap labor.

This is an obvious lie for H-1Bs have been shown to enable offshore outsourcing and are referred to as the outsourcing Visa.   Microsoft has been moving R&D offshore for years even when they had in essence unlimited guest worker Visas.   

Gates claim that 1/4ths of startups are started by immigrants.  Gates fails to note most immigrants did not come over on H-1B guest worker Visas. Also by the percentages of people in the field, the number of immigrants forming corporations is less that US citizens. Implying somehow that only foreigners have a lock on entrepreneurship is fairly discriminatory against Americans and Gates also fails to note how many of these companies are actually offshore outsourcing labor arbitrage business models.

Senator Chuck Grassley has it right:

Americans are seeing ruthless tactics by some companies to bring in foreign workers, pay them less, and increase their bottom line

Take it to our failing banks, Bill Gates is strong arming Congress.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher made up quite a stink . Between the committee chair, calling Bill Gates a rock star and not quite being able to get around Gate’s spin brain,  Rohrabacher  couldn’t quite nail the global agenda billionaire on these falsehoods, but he sure tried!     Who says Republicans are all corrupt?

To answer the claim that Microsoft cannot fill jobs we know for a fact they have rejected consistently highly competent engineers who happen to be over…40 years of age. Last I checked they had a 98% rejection rate. Whatever their idea of the best and the brightest is, it sure doesn’t seem to correlate to being capable of actually performing the job.

Amazingly,  Gates tries to claim the Urban Institute study is somehow flawed (because it’s accurate?) but he neglected the many other studies, including the Government Accountability Office, which state the same thing as the Urban Institute study, there is no worker shortage.

Most telling, note what Bill Gates does not do. He does not mention that simply awarding H-1B applications by the highest salary first, top down would free up many H-1B Visas for the true talent and stop enabling companies to pay $13/hr. Why not remove the lottery system and approve H-1B guest worker Visa applications based on the highest salaries paid first?    Because that would defeat the cheap labor agenda of course.

Why not push for the Senate bill,  S.1035, which will open up many more H-1B Visas since the legislation would close legal loopholes which allow employers to pay H-1B guest worker Visa holders less .   On no, Bill Gates and his hordes of corporate lobbyists fight that tooth and nail too and again the reason is cheap labor.

Nope, you’ll never hear those reforms presented by Bill Gates. What few realize is that Microsoft is a member of NASSCOM.  So, while you think he is lobbying for Microsoft, Gates is actually using his billionaire status (and probably more money) to lobby for an entire offshore outsourcing industry.  Yes Virginia, this really is about cheap labor.

Senator Chuck Grassley’s letter to Bill Gates, in full:

March 12, 2008

Mr. Bill Gates
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399

Dear Mr. Gates:

I am writing to follow up on the testimony you provided to the House Committee on Science and Technology today with regard to the importance of innovation in the United States and the need to keep pace with the global competition for talent.

I am particularly interested in your statements and Microsoft’s position on our immigration policies, specifically on the H-1B visa program. You stated that our immigration rules need to be revamped “so that U.S. companies can attract and retain the world’s best scientific talent.” You expressed opposition to the arbitrary cap on H-1B visas and implied that an unlimited number of foreign workers would be beneficial to the economy. You also advocated for doing away with the per-country visa limits and significantly increasing the number of permanent residency green cards available every year.

While I commend you and your foundation for contributing to organizations around the world, I’m concerned that some companies are more concerned about their bottom line than about the dire need to better educate and train American students and workers. The solution is not, in my opinion, importing more foreign workers. Rather, we must strengthen educational opportunities for America’s students and workers, as you noted. Such an investment will help reduce the trend in which 60% of students in U.S. STEM doctoral programs are foreign born.

Compete America, the association representing Microsoft and other high tech companies, advocates for an unlimited supply of foreign workers. I should note that Compete America includes many of the foreign based companies that use the visa program. During the hearing, however, you stated that a limit may be necessary, contradicting your written testimony. Do you differ from the association in this regard? Should there be a limit to the number of foreign workers we import each year?

While Congress may set an arbitrary number on the visas allocated annually, I’m afraid that taking away this cap will simply benefit foreign based companies. According to an article in last week’s Business Week, foreign outsourcers top the list of companies bringing foreign workers to the U.S. on the H-1B program. As noted in the piece, six of the top 10 visa recipients in 2007 are based in India.

Senator Durbin and I made the same point about visa approvals in 2006. We found that the top nine foreign-based companies* in 2006 used nearly 20,000 of the available H-1B visas.

The top 20 users in 2006 were:

*Infosys Technologies 4,908

*Wipro 4,002
Microsoft 3,117
*Tata Consulting Services 3,046
*Satyam Computer Services 2,880
Cognizant Tech Solutions 2,226
*Patni Computer Systems 1,391
IBM 1,130
Oracle 1,022

*Larsen and Toubro Infotech Ltd 947

HCL American Inc. 910
Deloitte & Touche LLP 890
Cisco Systems Inc. 828
Intel 828
*I-Flex Solutions Inc. 817
Ernst & Young LLP 774
*Tech Mahindra Americas 770
Motorola Inc. 760
*Mphasis Corporation 751
Deloitte Consulting 665

As you will see, Microsoft dropped in visa approvals in 2007 from 2006. In 2006, Microsoft was approved for 3,117 H-1B visas; in 2007, it dropped from third to fifth place and was only approved for 959 visas.

In your testimony, you stated that Microsoft was “unable to obtain H-1B visas for one-third of the highly qualified foreign-born job candidates that you wanted to hire.” Why did visa approvals decrease dramatically for Microsoft?

The statistics are clear. Thousands of visas are going to foreign based companies, leaving U.S. companies like Microsoft scrambling for qualified workers. How do you explain the fact that most H-1B visas are going to companies based outside the United States? Do you think that increasing the cap, under current law, would actually benefit Microsoft and other U.S. companies? Wouldn’t U.S. companies benefit more if the program was restructured?

Answering these questions should lead you to the conclusion that the H-1B visa program is not working as originally intended. We need reform – not just the so called “reform” of increasing the visa supply as proposed by Compete America. Reforms are needed so that U.S. businesses – both large and small — can find, recruit and hire the workers they need. In addition to the questions I have already posed to you, I would like your insight on the following points:

• Do you believe that American workers both deserve and, under the law should have, the first chance at high skilled, high paying jobs in the United States?
• Do you oppose increased enforcement of the program, including random audits of those that use the H-1B visas?
• Do you see bad apples using the program? Do you acknowledge that there are companies who undermine the system and pay lower salaries and/or benefits to foreign workers?
• Do you support efforts to make it more transparent for the U.S. taxpayers to view job openings and job vacancies that are filled by H-1B visa workers?
• Do you oppose efforts to require employers to better advertise job openings so that American workers can have a chance at the jobs before they are taken by foreign workers?

If we do not make changes to the H-1B program, foreign outsourcers will continue to import thousands of foreign workers to the detriment of U.S. businesses and workers. I urge you to look at the reforms in the Durbin/Grassley bill, S. 1035. For example, we would require all H-1B employers to make a good-faith effort to recruit American workers before hiring an H-1B visa holder. Raising the H-1B cap without this and other reforms will only hurt American companies and workers.

Reforms, increased enforcement, and better transparency will help put integrity back into the program. I hope you will consider these views and share your thoughts with me so that our immigration laws can be reformed for the benefit of U.S. companies, workers, and taxpayers.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley
United States Senator

A video clip from Lou Dobbs on the reality that there is no tech worker shortage