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Eye on Washington Vol. 2003, No. 11 (18 July 2003) |
GUEST WORKER PROVISIONS OF CHILE/SINGAPORE TRADE AGREEMENTS GENERATE CONTROVERSY At a July 17 hearing, the House Ways and Means Committees approved free trade agreements with Singapore and Chile (H.R. 2739 & H.R. 2738) containing new guest worker visa programs negotiated by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The agreements include provisions that would prohibit Congress from imposing a numerical limit or other workforce protections on the issuance of L-1 (intra-company transfer) visas to Chilean and Singapore natives. The agreements also establish new non-immigrant "W" visas, which would allow 6,800 workers from each country to enter the U.S. each year and work indefinitely. A limit also expands "treaty trader or investor" visas, which are available to Chilean or Singapore nationals who enter the U.S. in order to "establish, develop, administer or provide advice or key technical services" to the U.S. businesses in which they have invested capital. The presumption was that these agreements would serve as a model for future free trade agreements with other nations. Expressing bipartisan concerns that these immigration provisions were not germane to a trade treaty, several Ways and Means Committee members used the hearing to extract concessions from the Bush Administration not to include similar provisions in future free trade agreements, to impose new fees for "temporary entry" visas from Chile and Singapore equivalent to the training fee associated with the H-1B guest worker visa, and to count renewals of certain of the Singapore and Chilean free trade visas against the annual H-1B visa cap. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on July 14 to review the agreements with representatives of the USTR. In his opening statement, chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) warned that he would not "sacrifice the well-being of hard-working Americans and their families by weakening our immigration laws" and asked administration witnesses to return the message that "presenting the Judiciary Committee with implementing language related to particular trade agreements that raise general issues of immigration policy may not be the best path to travel in future trade agreements." Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) questioned why the Administration decided to include new immigration provisions in the trade agreements when Congress has already made arrangements for entry of skilled workers through the H-1B program. While praising concessions made in the House, he called for the addition of durational limits on the visits. News of Administration concessions, however, did not assuage all Judiciary Committee members as on July 17, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) called on President Bush and U.S. Trade Representative to withdraw and renegotiate the free trade agreements because of the guest worker provisions.
In a July 2 letter to U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Zoellick, IEEE-USA expressed its concerns regarding the trade agreements, as well as efforts to eliminate quotas on H-1B and other specialty non-immigrant visas during the current round of GATT trade negotiations by the World Trade Organization. LEGISLATION SEEKS TO LIMIT IMPACT OF L-1 VISA ON U.S. HIGH TECH WORKERS On July 10, Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-CT) announced introduction of legislation (H.R. 2702) intended to "protect American workers from losing jobs by preventing companies from using L-1 visas to displace American workers for foreign workers working for less money.” Delauro's bill would place an annual cap of 35,000 L-1 visas, ban the practice of blanked petitions, prohibit firms that have laid off American workers in the previous six months from using L-1 visa workers, require that L-1 workers be paid prevailing wages, require that L-1 workers must have been employed by the petitioning firm full time for at least three years, and add various enforcement powers.
Following a meeting with unemployed Connecticut engineers and IT workers on July 14, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) announced that he would introduce legislation in the Senate by week end to tighten immigration laws and ban large companies from hiring foreign workers with L1 visas when qualified American workers are available to fill open positions. It is expected Dodd will introduce the Senate companion to Delauro's H.R. 2702.
In related news, on July 9, Rep. Thomas G. Tancredo (R-CO) quietly introduced a two paragraph bill (H.R. 2688) that would abolish the H-1B visa program, with Rep. Virgil Goode Jr. (R-VA) as a co-sponsor. The bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and is unlikely to see action. Tancredo's previous bill, the High-Tech Work Fairness and Economic Stimulus Act of 2001 (H.R. 3222) sought to link the H-1B visa quota to the national unemployment rate, but died in the Judiciary Committee when the 107th Congress adjourned last year. Also on July 18, Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) requested that congressional watchdog agency, the General Accounting Office, investigate offshore outsourcing and its impacts on U.S. high-tech workers, aerospace engineers, and state and federal government workers whose jobs have been off-shored. Against this legislative backdrop, IEEE-USA held its first Careers Congressional Visits Day on 14-15 July 2003. IEEE U.S. volunteers visited 50 Senate and House offices to highlight the problem of engineering unemployment and describe the implications of guest worker programs and the rise of offshore outsourcing for the health of the U.S. high tech workforce and for U.S. competitiveness.
AFTER PARTISAN BLOW-UP, HOUSE TO CONSIDER PORTMAN-CARDIN PENSION BILL On July 18, the Republican majority of the House Ways & Means Committee unanimously approved a $50 billion pension reform proposal that had been substituted the night before while committee Democrats huddled in an adjacent room attempting to craft a Democratic alternative. The action caused a blow-up during which Capitol Hill police were summoned by Ways and Means Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) to restore order. Having cleared the committee, the revamped Pension Preservation and Savings Expansion Act (HR 1776), sponsored by Reps Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), could be taken up on the House floor as early as next week. HR 1776 would accelerate the phase-in of increases in IRA and 401(k) contribution limits so that individuals will be able to contribute up to $15,000 to a 401(k) plan; $10,000 to a SIMPLE plan or $5,000 to an IRA in 2004. The 2001 catch-up provisions will also be accelerated to allow savers age 50 and older to make an additional $5,000 contribution to a 401(k) plan and $1,000 more to an IRA beginning in 2004. The legislation would also extend the life of a tax credit designed to encourage low income savers to contribute to an IRA or to a workplace retirement savings plan through 2010. (This credit is currently scheduled to sunset at the end of 2006). The bill will also further improve pension portability by extending shorter vesting periods enacted in 2001 to include employer-matching contributions to defined contribution plans. The most controversial feature of HR 1776 is a new pension funding formula that critics say would allow companies to reduce the amount of money they have to set aside to meet future obligations to defined benefit plan participants. The current formula is based on an obsolete 30 year Treasury bond rate, which has fallen to historically low levels in recent years, forcing some companies to make sizeable contributions in order to meet minimum funding requirements. HR 1776 will allow companies to switch to lower corporate bond rate for a period of three years to give Congress time to consider a more equitable long term alternative. Opponents of the switch assert that a higher rate to reduce company contributions could put pension liquidity at risk, while proponents argue that the lower rate will drive companies to eliminate defined benefit plans altogether. Another controversial provision would increase the age at which retirees must take minimum distributions from their pension plans from 701/2 to 75. Proponents contend that this change simply reflects increases in life expectancy since the current rule was first enacted in 1962. Opponents characterize the proposed change as a tax shelter for wealthy Americans who do not need the money to meet retirement needs. SENATE TO RESUME CONSIDERATION OF ENERGY BILL BEFORE AUGUST BREAK The Senate is expected to resume consideration of the Energy Policy Act of 2003 (S. 14) in late July. Among the controversial provisions not yet resolved are proposed utility standards for increasing the share of electricity generated by renewable sources, streamlining of dam relicensing, and oil exploration in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. If the Senate can pass S. 14, it will be conferenced with the House energy bill (H.R. 6) which was passed in April. The bills differ significantly on a number of issues including electricity restructuring, nuclear power, Artic drilling, corporate average fuel economy standards, and renewable energy requirements. SCIENCE COMMITTEE HEARING GAUGES U.S. LEADERSHIP IN SUPERCOMPUTING The House Science Committee heard testimony on July 16 from industry, university and government witnesses on whether the U.S. was losing its lead in supercomputing technology, what R&D efforts are underway, and what additional steps should be taken. Ford Motor Company executive Vincent Scarafino told the Committee that more advanced U.S. computing capability is essential to ensuring the future competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry and warned that the federal government's reliance on utilizing off-the-shelf components, rather than investing in developing the next generation of supercomputers has put U.S. leadership at risk. Daniel Reed, director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, testified that "we must change the model for development, acquisition and deployment of high-end computing systems if the U.S. is to sustain the leadership needed for scientific discovery and national security in the long term. The Japanese Earth System Simulator is a wakeup call, as it highlights the critical importance of both industry-government collaboration and long-term sustained investment."
HOUSE AND SENATE PROPOSE $1 BILLION FOR HOMELAND SECURITY R&D On July 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the Homeland Security appropriations bill (HR 2555), which allocates $1 billion to R&D programs at the new Department of Homeland Security, including $866 million to the DHS Science and Technology Department, an increase of 66.2% over its start-up FY 2003 funding. House legislation funds the S&T directorate at $900 million. Senate funding priorities include $18 million for cybersecurity R&D, $70 million for rapid-development and prototyping of homeland security technologies, $55 million for university programs and homeland security fellowships, $72 million for critical infrastructure protection, and $29 million for standards.
HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE PROPOSES 6.2% INCREASE FOR NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION On July 15, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent Agencies approved an FY 2004 budget appropriation of $5.69 billion for the National Science Foundation, which represents an increase of $329.1 million (6.2%) over the FY 2003. NSF's research budget would grow by a similar 6.2%, while funding for Education and Human Resources is largely flat at 0.2%. Funding for NSF's Engineering Directorate would increase by 3.6% over the FY 2003 budget plan to $560 million. NSF's Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering Directorate would jump 4.8% increase to $610 million. The appropriations measure now moves to full committee for consideration.
DEFENSE R&D SLATED FOR LARGE INCREASES On July 9, the House approved FY 2004 appropriations for the Department of Defense (H.R. 2658), including $66 billion, an increase of 12.3%, for defense R&D. The Senate version, approved on July 17, was only slightly less generous, allocating $64.8 billion, a 10.4% increase. All but approximately one billion dollars of the increase in either version goes towards weapons development programs (accounts 6.4-6.7). Science and Technology base funding (6.1-6.3) would grow by 5.4% in the Senate bill. Funding for university basic research, however, falls by 4.3% in the Senate bill and remains flat in the House bill. Buried in the Senate defense appropriations bill is a provision that would bar further expenditures on the controversial Terrorism Information Awareness (formally Total Information Awareness) research program at DARPA.
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT PROPOSES REORGANIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY AGENCIES On July 17, Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans released the 21st Century Innovation Act, draft legislation that would "modernize the structure for the Department's formulation of technology and telecommunications policy" by combining management of the DOC's Technology Administration, The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the e-commerce policy functions of the International Trade Administration into a consolidated Technology and Telecommunications Administration. According to its authors, the reorganization reflects the reality of digital convergence in the global economy. The bill has not yet been introduced in Congress.
The announcement comes in the wake of news that the House Appropriations Committee has passed its version of the FY 2004 Commerce Department Appropriation legislation, including provisions that would eliminate funding for of the Department's Office of the Under Secretary for Technology. The Evan's proposal would expand the role of the Under Secretary to head the new combined Technology and Telecommunications Administration. AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY REPORT QUESTIONS FEASIBILITY OF KEY MISSILE DEFENSE STRATEGY In a report released July 15, an American Physical Society study group raised questions about the practicality of "boost-phase defense" proposed by the Bush Administration as a key component of the national missile defense strategy. According to the panel, fast interceptors could have difficulty catching liquid-propellant ICBMs and would be unable to catch solid-propellant ICBMs in time. Nations of concern such as North Korea and Iran would be able to deploy fast-burning solid-propellant ICBMS within the same time frame as the U.S. plans to field a boost-phase defense. The report concludes, however that boost-phase defense against short- or medium-range missiles launched from ships off U.S. coasts appears technically possible, provided ships carrying interceptors could stay within about 40 kilometers of the threatening ships.
FERC CHALLENGES POWER ENGINEERS TO DEVELOP PROFESSIONAL GUIDELINES In July 15 remarks to the IEEE Power Engineering Society Summer Annual Meeting in Toronto, William Hederman, director of Market Oversight and Investigations for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), called on the power engineering community to develop a set of professional practices and ethical guidelines for operation of generation and transmission facilities and pledged FERC assistance. According to Hederman, electricity supply and price volatility is affected by engineering decisions regarding the availability of generation output during periods of tight supply and/or high demand. In a related statement, FERC Chair Pat Wood III noted that the "Commission also has concerns about whether transmission systems are operated fairly." Wood added, "Engineering best practices are one way we can work cooperatively to make competitive power markets work in the best interests of customers." DOE BREAKS GROUND ON FIRST OF FIVE NANOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH LABS On July 18, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham broke ground on the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a $65 million dollar R&D facility which is the first of five new nanoscale research centers planned by the Department of Energy. The Oak Ridge center will partner with the University of Tennessee, which is investing $2.5 million for development of a nanoscale research and education center with a focus on developing analytical equipment for atomic-scale characterization.
NASA TO ESTABLISH INDEPENDENT ENGINEERING AND SAFETY CENTER On July 15, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced plans to create an independent Engineering and Safety Center at NASA's Langley Research Center with a mission to coordinate and conduct robust engineering and safety assessments across all NASA programs and projects. The new center would be headed by Ralph Roe, Jr., who had headed vehicle engineering at the Johnson Space Center until a recent shake-up of the space shuttle program. The center is a response to criticisms leveled by the Gehman Board investigating the Columbia Shuttle Disaster, whose preliminary reports apportion a large portion of responsibility for the disaster to failures of NASA management and safety systems.
FCC ESTABLISHES HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICE On July 10, the Federal Communications Commission announced creation of a new Office of Homeland Security within FCC's Enforcement Bureau. The new Office, to be headed by FCC veteran James Daily, will provide support for FCC homeland security and emergency preparedness responsibilities, including emergency operations, crisis management, and rulemaking related to the FCC's Emergency Alert System.
RESEARCH/FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Air Force Fusion Applications
(DoD/AFRL). Assured Reference TecHnology
Research (DoD/AFRL) (Technologies for Navigation Warfare and Precise
Reference Sensing for Network Centric Engagement). Geospatial Intelligence Concepts
and Products (DoD/NMA). GOES-R Satellite Technologies and
Integration Methodologies (NOAA). High-Speed Rail Service Research,
Technology Advancements or Demonstrations (DoT/FRA). Multiple Optical Non-redundant
Aperture Generalized Sensors Imaging Systems (DoD/DARPA). Real-World Reasoning Computer
Research (DoD/DARPA). Sensor Integration and
Communication Technologies (DoD/Navy). RECENT REPORTS OF NOTE Is There a Shortage of Scientists
and Engineers? How Would We Know?, Rand Institution (2003). Technology Transfer from Federally Funded R&D: Perspectives from a Forum, Rand Institution (2003). See: http://www.rand.org/publications/CF/CF187/ The Science and Engineering
Workforce/Education Project, Presentation to the President's Council of
Science and Technology Advisors (PCAST) (June 13, 2003). | Top of Page | What's New@IEEE | EyeOnWash Archive | Policy Forum | IEEE-USA | What's New @ IEEE-USA's Eye on Washington highlights important federal legislative and regulatory developments that affect U.S. engineers and their careers. In addition to this biweekly newsletter, subscribers receive legislative bulletins and action alerts on IEEE-USA priority issues, including: retirement security, employment benefits, research & development funding, computers and information policy, immigration reform, intellectual property protection, and privacy of health/medical information. EDITOR: Chris Brantley, IEEE-USA, 2001 L Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036-5104, Email: c.brantley@ieee.org You can subscribe to receive IEEE-USA's Eye on Washington by e-mail by using the forms at http://whatsnew.ieee.org/ or at http://www.ieeeusa.org/emailupdates/ or by contacting c.brantley@ieee.org with your request.Copyright © 2003, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Permission granted to copy for personal use or for non-commercial republication with appropriate attribution. |