Posted on 05/17/2006 4:36:02 AM PDT by Altair333
Feinstein and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., prevailed 79-18 on an amendment to reduce the number of low-skill guest worker visas from 325,000 a year to 200,000 and to remove an automatic escalator that would have increased the low-skill visas by 20 percent each year that the ceiling was reached.
The Heritage analysis added up all the provisions of the 616-page Senate bill and extended them over 20 years, producing a mid-range estimate of more than 100 million new legal immigrants -- a third of the current U.S. population -- if the guest worker programs grow at 10 percent a year and workers bring their families as currently allowed.
"It all adds up to millions and millions of people," Feinstein said.
Feinstein said she would like to eliminate the 20 percent escalator in the H1B skilled visa category as well.
"It's simply too many," Feinstein said, adding the H1B category -- which has stirred controversy among U.S.-born engineers -- could generate 3.67 million foreign workers over the next 10 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Maybe there's a little hope for this country after all- the House hasn't even weighed in yet and the bill is looking better. I would note that the arch-RINOs McCain and (according to Bloomberg) Specter were against Feinstein's reduction in visas. But hey, at least McCain met with Jerry Falwell so conservatives should like him.
Of course Democrats would seek to reduce the Guest Worker numbers. The Guest Workers in effect amount to an army of union busters.
Look at where they're from, California and NM...that's why they proposed this, their states are really feeling the impact of immigration.
But IF they do nothing to stop the illegals invaders than we will still have the million invaders PLUS the ADDED 200,000, do you really think the illegals will stop flooding in with a "guest"worker program????
politics....just politics...look at the democrat vote regarding whether to fix the border before addressing the 'guest status', 'amnesty' for those already here....guess where that is headed......politics....the democrats have never taken even a baby step forward without debating what's in it for them....
I'm still unclear on exactly how the "guest worker" program would work.
Does it clarify that these workers are indeed subject to minimum wage and other related laws? If so, then the chief incentive for hiring these people - lower labor costs - would presumably be greatly reduced if not eliminated. And the employers would simply look for more illegals.
If the guest worker program somehow preserves some of these advantages, then the government has simply repealed, in a sense, the minimum wage and related labor other laws through the back door.
Or is the contention that, even with the increased payments to these guest workers, they are still a better bargain
than Americans, whom we are told will not work for those wages and/or are not as hardworking at all?
What am I missing here?
Not without serious enforcement. Otherwise people will just hire whomever they can for as little as they can. Hiring illegals has always been a shortcut against excessive Gov't regulation, taxes and minimum wage labor laws that cripple small business.
The problem I see is if we have 12 million here now, why do we need any more. I don't like this huge number. Thats 1.2 million more over the life of the bill.
Pretty sad when the only semi-serious efforts at limiting unlimited immigration are coming from liberal Democrats, not the purported "conservative" Republican president who only runs as a conservative then governs like Lyndon Johnson, only worse.
Well said.
Guest workers flooded Western Europe and have basically destroyed it.
Guest workers will come "legally" and those who don't get in this way will continue to come illegally.
Bush has sold us out, as has the GOP.
America as we know it is finished if this becomes law. It's a certainty.
Which means that the only real solution to controlling unbidden, overwhelming migration from Mexico is to abolish Mexico and turn it into two countries, one of which will be under the direct rule of a suitible puppet, and the other just another Central American state given to raving Communist slogans and marching in the streets.
Try and think this through from Bush's perspective. He gets elected in the midst of a recession (not to mention 9/11) and promisses to create more jobs in the private sector. The biggest source of jobs is small business. They are also the biggest abusers of illegal labor. If Bush cuts off that source he destroys a lot of small businesses and many people with legitimate jobs in small business also lose their jobs. Now we have a low unemployment rate and tax revenues are up. If the time is right to address the illegal flow of cheap labor then we better be willing to pay for it as well. Payment will be far more than another quarter for a head of lettuce or to pay for the bricks for a wall. We will also pay by the bankrupcy of numerous small businesses and an increase in unemployment rates. Those prices don't win many elections for any politicians.
Agreed but they do have an interest as well. Certainly they favor citizenship since they know they can lure poor people with entitlements. Second, although they don't like guest workers because they are union busters, they also figure that if the Gov't wants to organize these low wage earners - fine. They figure they can eventually unionize guest workers anyway.
If Mexico's leaders can't govern the country, maybe it would indeed be better for all if someone else did.
Maybe they need American "guest statesmen" to do the jobs Mexicans won't do!
:)
Plus family, I think.
Yes, jobs Mexicans won't do, or can't do very well. Wonder how those bad boys'd feel if the federales all came from the US? And the members of their Congress were appointed by a military directorate in Washington?
Turn 'em all into illegal aliens, and right in their own country.
I fear Mexicans just don't know how good they have it "down home".
It could get really, really bad really, really quick doncha know.
That's what scares me about the "entitlement" mentality. (Who on Earth thought up that name? That says it all!) As many others have pointed out, what happens when and if a majority of voters receive these "entitlements" and a minority of voters pay for them? It will be open season on confiscatory taxes. Some say we're there already.
It is my understanding that this bill covers only one type of visa and that there are many different types of visas. Smoke and mirrors by our illustrious leaders of both parties.
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