Ironically, the NRC report missed its October 1st deadline, and Congress had acted well before the report was released. So it is hard to be sure what the report's next sentence meant: "The Committee believes it would be a mistake to adopt 'stop-gap measures' -- and miss the opportunity for a considered debate on the nation's immigration policies?given the fact that our economy is rapidly becoming more global."

That is exactly what the H-1B hike did -- miss the opportunity for a considered debate. So that's the bad news. The good news is that, more than a year after the IEEE-USA and our partners in the Immigration Reform Coalition first made a case for "green cards, not guest workers," IT employers now say they want what we proposed all along: Sandy Boyd, top lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers, has called for the next Congress to focus on "green card reforms," suggesting such reforms will eliminate the need for more temporary visa increases. So maybe now, at last, we can build on the "sensible center."

Year in and year out, 50,000-78,000 permanent immigration visas based on employment go unused, while demand for the H-1B NON-immigrant visa exceeds the available number. Green cards are better than guest worker visas not only because they make the new worker a free agent, able to change jobs for higher pay, but also because they provide more effective protection for U.S. workers.

"Politics ain't beanbag," of course, as somebody once put it, and we shouldn't be naive about the high stakes games that are played in our nation's Capitol. All too often these serve no one's interest -- not IT employers, nor U.S. workers, much less H-1Bs themselves. For more than a decade, some of those who now claim to support green card reforms have actually worked to prevent them. What will happen next year (if anything), will be based on what each player feels is in his or her particular interest.

What's really at stake in the continuing debate is illuminated by the H-1B visa holders themselves. As our surveys showed, virtually all H-1B visa holders want permanent residency. Harris Miller, the top officer of the Information Technology Association of America, recently said that the H-1B program is a "minor leagues" for IT employers. That is, the IT industry has persuaded the U.S. government to provide it with a large and growing pool of temporary workers who want permanent residency. This pool is larger than the number of green cards available -- and much larger than the number of green cards actually issued. The H-1B program serves as a farm team for U.S. employer workers, exactly the way the major leagues have four and five times as many players trying out in the minors: willing to accept lower pay and tough working conditions in hopes of one day making it to the majors.

IT employers and their lobbyists and attorneys denied that this "indentured servant" factor was important in the H-1B program, right up until they decided to fix it by adding a provision in the new H-1B legislation that allows H-1B visa holders to change jobs more easily -- but (as the NRC feared) without fixing the green card system itself.

The largest H-1B group, the Immigrant Support Network, has a "solution" for the farm team problem: ISN wants guest workers to be able to sponsor themselves for permanent residency. In other words, it wants to leave the employers out of the employment-based immigration process completely. I think Congress ought to ask what employer would ever pay for a worker's green card, if the workers could buy it themselves? How many workers would gladly pay their life savings if it meant access to good jobs and the prospect of living in the U.S. on an "indefinitely temporary" visa? But Congress has once again evaded its responsibility to ask the tough questions, and has simply kicked the problem down the road. By enacting S.2045, it opened the door to hundreds of thousands of new high-tech guest workers with only a token consideration for U.S. workers in the form of some additional funding for federal education and retraining programs. Congress left true immigration reform lying on the table in favor of the politically expedient "solution."

So what do we do now? Having raised the H-1B visa caps through 2003 after a politically bruising battle, Congress is unlikely to want to revisit the high-tech guest worker issue next year. However, immigration reform could very well become a significant issue because of the increasing recognition that the U.S. immigration system is broken. That realization will grow even stronger as permanent immigration visas continue to go unused and the "train wreck" predicted by IEEE-USA occurs as large numbers of new guest workers begin to apply for permanent status and are unable to obtain green cards. In that case, IEEE-USA will support sensible immigration reforms while urging that the H-1B visa program be scaled back to what Congress originally envisioned, a short-term visa to bring in a limited number of exceptionally talented professionals for truly temporary assignments.

IEEE-USA also intends to monitor closely and to report on abuses, including discriminatory treatment of U.S., and foreign workers; promote K-12 and life-long education; beef-up our employment assistance and professional development services; and take other steps as part of a comprehensive effort to enhance the career vitality of our U.S. members.

Looking ahead, I think IEEE-USA can continue to play a vital role in this effort. Sooner or later, the Congress has to recognize that Ellis Island is not a temp agency, and we hope IT employers will recognize that a workforce welfare program is not the best foundation for their future prosperity. Green cards, not guest workers is a sensible solution that will become increasingly attractive once the veil of election year politics is lifted.