Immigration Reform Clears Committee -- Bill hurts Labor/ American Tech Workers [View all]

[whathehell]

Sen. Orrin Hatch secures amendment helping tech firms win visa battle over unions. W. Post: “The compromise amendment lifts the requirement that companies first offer tech jobs to Americans for all firms except those that depend on foreigners for more than 15 percent of their workforce and relaxes the formula for determining the annual number of foreign high-tech workers.”

AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka vows to fight tech visa change on Senate floor. The Hill quotes: “Hatch’s amendments change the bill so that high tech companies could functionally bring in H-1B visa holders without first making the jobs available to American workers. Hatch’s amendments would mean that American corporations could fire American workers in order to bring in H-1B visa holders at lower wages.”

No Republican filibuster planned. The Hill: “Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Tuesday said he would not try to block immigration reform from reaching the floor despite the opposition of some conservative leaders … While McConnell stopped short of pledging his support for the legislation, he praised the Gang of Eight’s work and said he is ‘hopeful’ of passing a comprehensive immigration fix through the Senate.”

But more Republican concessions eyed. Roll Call: “…though the deal worked to secure Hatch’s backing for the immigration framework in committee, he and other Republicans are demanding more concessions before they back a final bill on the Senate floor. ‘I am going to vote this bill out of committee because I’ve committed to do that once this amendment passes,’ Hatch told his colleagues … ‘But make no mistake about it, those other four amendments that are Finance Committee amendments, we are going to reserve them for the floor, but I’ve got to get those or we’ll never pass those bills.’”