Promoting Electrotechnology Careers and Public Policy

July 23, 1998

President William J. Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Re: Pending H-1B Visa Legislation (H.R. 3736)

Dear President Clinton:

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States Activities (IEEE-USA) opposes the enactment of any legislation that will raise H-1B admissions ceilings without also strengthening essential worker safeguards, expanding skills development opportunities for U.S. workers and improving the administration and enforcement of the H-1B visa program.

Although we question the need to increase H-1B admissions at this time -- engineering unemployment is creeping up again and, as Representative Lamar Smith has pointed out, layoffs and downsizings in the high tech sector have been increasing in response to the Asian economic downturn -- the Workforce Improvement and Protection Act (H.R. 3736) addresses most of our concerns.

H.R. 3736, as reported by the Judiciary Committee, contains essential safeguards for U.S. workers, including citizens, legal permanent residents and temporary foreign workers. One will require employers to make a good faith effort to recruit and retain U.S. workers before hiring H-1B workers. The other will bar employers from hiring H-1B workers if they have laid-off American workers with equivalent qualifications and experience in the same occupations and geographical areas in which H-1B workers will be employed.

Other provisions that were added to H.R. 3736 by the Judiciary Committee should help to improve Congressional and administrative oversight of the H-1B program. One directs the General Accounting Office to study and report on current and projected labor market conditions for information technology workers and the incidence of age discrimination in the information technology industry. The other calls for the collection of more accurate statistical information on the numbers, qualifications and compensation of H-1B workers.

Also discussed (but withdrawn) at the markup was a bipartisan amendment to impose a modest application fee on employers of H-1B workers and to use the proceeds to help prepare more Americans for jobs in high demand occupations. We strongly recommend that such a provision be added before or after the bill reaches the House floor and that consideration be given to increasing the amount of the proposed user fee to help pay for improved H-1B program administration and enforcement.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a transnational professional and technical society made up of more than 320,000 electrical, electronics and computer engineers in 147 countries. IEEE-USA promotes the professional careers and technology policy interests of the IEEE's 219,000 U.S. members.

Sincerely,

John R. Reinert, D.M.
IEEE-USA President

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of America
2001 L Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036-5104
Office: (202) 785-0017 * Fax: (202) 785-0835 * E-mail: ieeeusa@ieee.org

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Last Update: July 23, 1998

Staff Info Contact: Vin O'Neill, v.oneill@ieee.org