Congress is Schizophrenic (on Immigration in the Stimulus Bill)
Are they trying to help or hurt? I know I am not saying anything revolutionary, but the reality is I am convinced even they don’t know for sure. When it came to the Stimulus Bill there were sadly only two (2) immigration cross overs and they were both of the restrictive kind. The first thankfully did not make the final bill. It required anyone getting stimulus funds to participate in E-Verify, the government’s mistaken foray into broken databases to allegedly determine who is eligible to be employed. (People would complain a lot less about this, if the system worked. But even the government concedes their database is not up to date, resulting in lawsuits like the one from the State of Illinois.) The second sadly made it. It limits the abilities of companies who receive stimulus funds to participate in the H1-B program. What a mistake.
I understand their apparently well intentioned ideas, but they are short sighted. Since the bill is made to promote job growth for those already here, how can bringing in foreign workers possibly be the aim? This myopic approach ignores the realities of the situation. Bringing in the more H1-B’s actually stimulates the economy and promotes job growth. (See Harvard Business School Paper) Also on individual projects, it allows the hiring of need workers in order to complete projects to create more jobs. (See editorial from Washington Post making the same point.) Now I know for years the lazy US worker lobby has talked about how the people getting these skilled worker jobs depress salaries and steal jobs. How is it we keep running a lottery for these positions and companies keep trying to get workers? How come nobody asks if salaries have out-gained the ability for companies to exist? What about the point that when we invite foreign labor we get better and keep jobs at home instead of moving to a dependant economy?
In any event, I hope we don’t suffer from a short sighted plan. Anyone want to say Comprehensive Immigration Reform? (Click here for more on this from the Immigration Policy Center.)
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