Subject: HQ NR #7020: Update Info On Bills and Lobby Efforts

From: [email-masked] (ifcss)
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 95 23:28:32 GMT

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1. Senator Dole Pulls Welfare Reform Bill Off Senate Floor
   Senator Majority leader Dole announced last week that the Senate would
postpone consideration of welfare reform until after the  August  recess.
Reports on why the bill was pulled differ.     Dole is blaming Democrats'
opposition, and also claims  all   Republican  can support if the bill is
brought to the floor in September. Optimists speculate that it may  be  a
challenge getting the bill to the floor in September   as   the   Senater
already has a packed schedule of bills to consider.

                            *   *   *   *   *

2. National campaign does work as confirmed by   Senater   offices, which
were logging calls and hearing from lots of local  advocates,   and   was
having impacts on the Senators. During the ongoing congressional  recess,
IFCSS appeals to  CSS organizations, and all CSS nationwide, to call your
district Representatives  and Senators. If you need   any help,   talking
points and phone numbers, please contact IFCSS headquarters.

                            *   *   *   *   *

3. IFCSS representative Chen Dong attended the regular Coalition  confer-
ence on Monday. The House Judiciary Committee mark-up   of   Rep. Smith's
bill looms ahead in early September. This bill, named newly as H.R. 2202,
contains a lot of benefits-related provisions that are very draconian. In
the Senate, Simpson is promising a bill on legal immigration in the  very
near future that he intends to join with S269 with restrictions targeting
both legal and illegal immigrants access to benefits.

IFCSS Headquarters attaches another sample letter on lobbying   H.R.2202,
drafted by our   colleague,   Ilya Shlyakhter at M.I.T.  Thanks to Ilya.
Please distribute it as wide as possible for immediate   contact to  your
district congressmen/congresswomen, especially if he/she  is   in   House
Judiciary Committee!

                          *   *   *   *   *

4. National Immigration Forum (NIF) calls for stories, to counter damaing
characterizations being made of immigrants by members of   Congress   who
want to cut legal immigration. NIF claims, to put a human face   on   the
immigration policy debate, we are putting   together a series of one-page
stories that demonstrate both the importance of legal immigrants  to this
country.

NIF will submit these stories to   Congress or the press.  NIF would even
like to get legal immigants to tell their stories publicly in  a hearing,
in a visit with a member of Congress, or at a press conference.  In deve-
loping a story, a short description   of   the immigrants, their circums-
tances by which they came to    the U.S. and their accomplishments in the
U.S., will be the best to fit (real name need not even be used).

IFCSS Task Force will relay the stories to NIF if   any CSS would like to
respond to its call.

                           *   *   *   *   *

5. Sample Letter to Representatives of House on H.R. 2202    [As    this
letter contains several talking points, you could send it out or   split
it into several parts, and then them respectively with your signature ]

Dear Mr. Congressman/woman [  ]:

We 're writing to you to express our concern about H.R. 2202 (originally
H.R. 1915).    We   appreciate  your effort in responsible reform of the
immigration system, but we are troubled by some aspects of the bill.

The bill contains two major parts, dealing with illegal and legal immig-
ration.  These should be separated into two bills, to give people   more
flexibility in supporting just the provisions they want.  While  support
for curbing illegal immigration may be almost universal, major reduction
of legal immigration is much more contraversial.

The bill sets strict numerical limits  on legal   immigration,   about a
third down from what they're now.  This will dramatically   increase the
already large backlog of visas in many categories, making the wait for a
visa unbearably long.  In addition, by setting strict limits on  refugee
visas, the bill severely limits the   ability of   the U.S. to deal with
unpredictable events such as refugee crises.

The bill places excessive restrictions on employment-based  immigration.
Of particular concern is the   labor   certification   requirement   for
"outstanding    researchers  and professors".  The long and costly labor
certification process    is unnecessary    in this case, since any truly
oustanding reasearcher or professor by  definition cannot be replaced by
a "readily available" U.S. worker.  Also, the elimination of a "national
interest" waiver exempting certain workers   (mostly in medical research
or defense fields) from labor certification is unnecessary.  The INS has
developed regulations that prevent abuse of this waiver, and there is no
evidence of such widespread abuse.  Since labor certification is  costly
and can take over a year to process, it can significantly delay research
plans or even force an employer to pick a less qualified worker for whom
an LCA is not required. Therefore,   it's best to avoid labor certifica-
tions whenever possible.

H.R. 2202 also imposes arbitrary requirements on professionals and skil-
led workers, requiring 5 and 7 years of experience, respectively,   even
in professions where only 2 or 3 years of experience after a   baccalau-
reate degree are usually required for employment. This measure will only
hurt the employers, since they generally avoid hiring overqualified wor-
kers.  The experience and education requirements should   not exceed the
usual requirements for employment in a particular field.

Another disturbing provision of the bill would reduce employment immigr-
ation if there is excess family   immigration.  This leaves   employment
immigration in an uncertain state, creating  a potential for a  conside-
rable decrease in work visas without any regard to the need of U.S. com-
panies for highly qualified foreign employees. To protect the U.S. comp-
anies from such uncertainty, this provision should be dropped.

The restrictions on family immigration   in H.R. 2002   contradict   the
principle of family reunification which the US has adopted.    The  bill
eliminates from family immigration siblings, unmarried children over  21
years of age, and parents when less than 50% of their children live   in
the U.S.  However, the traditional U.S. family includes these relatives.
Note especially that children over 21 are often students who   live with
the family and are an integral part of it. Also, it can happen that only
the child in the U.S. can support a parent,   while two or more children
living elsewhere cannot; the 50% restriction would leave the parent with
out any support.

The bill contains provisions that will bar all but the well-to-do Ameri-
cans from sponsoring their family members for immigration.  A    sponsor
would be required to purchase complete  health insurance   for the alien
and to maintain the income of at least 200% of the poverty level for the
sponsor's family (including the alien).  While we understand the need to
increase sponsors' responsibility for the aliens they sponsor,we believe
that the provisions of H.R. 2002   go too far   in this respect and will
significantly  harm family reunification.  Moreover, they're unnecessary
since the law already requires the alien to prove that he/she   is   not
likely to become a public charge.

In addition to hindering family reunification,      the  restrictions on
family immigration will hurt U.S. employers.    Many immigrants who come
on family visas find jobs shortly after coming to the U.S.  Furthermore,
qualified foreign professionals may reject an employment   offer if they
cannot bring their relatives with them to the U.S.     It is in the U.S.
interest to do everything possible to attract excellent   specialists by
creating hospitable conditions for their families.

We understand that the goal of restricting employment immigration  is to
protect U.S. workers from being displaced by foreign ones. However, such
restrictions damage the U.S. both in the short run    (by depriving U.S.
companies of much-needed specialists) and in the long run (by not encou-
raging U.S. workers to become as  competitive as their foreign  counter-
parts.)  These restrictions must not be allowed to pass.

We appreciate your attention to our concerns, and urge you to  amend the
bill to address them.

Sincerely,

<signatures>

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