Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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June 9, 2007 6:57 AM
UPDATE: Sanders H-1B Bill Postponed
The Nation gives us the update on the Sanders-Grassley bill to crackdown on corporations that use the H-1B program to lower American wages by replacing American workers with lower-paid foreign workers:
"What the immigration bill was really about was corporate America's ability to import low-skilled and high-skilled workers to keep wages down," says Warren Gunnels, a senior policy advisor to Bernie Sanders who spoke in the Senator's absence. High-skilled workers brought in on H-1B visas are paid, on average, $25,000 less per year than American workers, according to Gunnels. And last week, while Dell and IBM and Motorola and others claimed that they couldn't find Americans to take these jobs, those very companies laid off thousands of employees. So Sanders sponsored an amendment, along with Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, to limit the number of H-1B visas to companies that are concurrently laying off workers. It never reached the floor.
It didn't get to the floor because the immigration bill as a whole was pulled. But this legislation will be back. Stay tuned.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
It's a great idea, but it will never fly. The U.S. is now so firmly a Corporate State, with the Corporatives (oil, military-industrial, auto, computer, church, media, etc) banding together as needed and calling the shots, that this bill will probably not be passed. If it is passed, it will be so that the politicians can boast of their victory for the people; and they will then quietly destroy it by gutting provisions, failing to fund, failing to enforce, and so forth.
Well the legislation better be very well written so as to cover the loopholes that business will find to keep importing H1-B labor. Also funding for enforcement needs to be there. Without it, the legislation will be useless.
The war against the middle-class continues.
I got to see much of Bernie's speech on Lou Dobbs I think it was, and he is one of the few voices that has any concern for the average American in this plot to attack and lower further their living standard..
When we see the likes of Ted Kennedy working so hard to undermine the earning potential of the already struggling American it is a sad day for us all..
There is no reason that this government cannot Secure our Borders..!
This makes such simple sense to all but our dishonest compromised politicians..!
Even the Media is so out of touch with how hard it is for Americans to make ends meet and now even the building trade is under attack New Orleans is being re-built the little that it is by illegals and not all those who cannot return home to build it..themselves..mostly blacks who suffer in particular under this new regime to undo America it's borders..and more..
The jobs that the corporate criminals can't send over seas they want to take away using foreigners..
They corporations claim that Americans are too stupid to employ but it is the corporations that are signing our death warrant and these politicians are helping them push us over the abyss..!
If the Democrats push this bill through it may very well cost them the election and presidency in 2008 why can't Reid see this is he as stupid as the corporations think We are..?
I've got the solution for the whole Illegal invasion of America..!
Rescind the Citizenship of All Americans and just change it to Residents, then they are all residents too..!
Henceforth only Corporations will be Citizens..which is more accurate anyway..!
Only Citizens will vote, and to be a voting citizen even if you incorporate you must have $1.5 million annual verifiable income and "Citizens" will never be made to pay Taxes only residents..!
Residents can vote on local town level elections only if the population is under 15,000 residents and there are no corporate, I mean Citizen interests involved..!
See problem solved..!
It's not just H-1B.
It should also be about H-2A&B. The so-called "guest worker" programs, where laborers are brought into this country to work for sweat-shop wages, under sub-standard living conditions, and charged for their travel, and a cut going to "contractors" who supply the labor.
Under programs like this, no wonder so many economic immigrants find it better to come in illegally.
But if we push for fair trade agreements instead of "free" trade agreements, which have contributed heavily to the economic problems in third-world countries, we're being "protectionist".
"Protectionist" seems to mean "corporations might have to pay fair wages and provide fair working conditions instead of cleaning up on sociopathic corporate profits."
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