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Bush urges US Congress to lift H-1B visa limit
PTI ^ | February 03, 2006 | Sridhar Krishnaswami

Posted on 02/04/2006 4:38:34 AM PST by Tyche

Making a strong pitch for America to stay competitive in the face of emerging economies such as India and China, President George W Bush has urged the Congress to raise the number of H-1B visas that allow companies to hire foreign workers for scientific and high tech jobs.

"Congress needs to understand that nations like India, China, Japan, Korea and Canada all offer tax incentives that are permanent. In other words, we live in a competitive world. We want to be the leader in this world," Bush said in a speech in Minnesota on Thursday.

To fill vacant jobs in the US, Bush urged the Congress to lift current limit on H-1B visas that allow foreign workers to get jobs in the United States. The Congress in 2005 capped at 65,000 the number of H-1B visas, a third of the 195,000 allowed during the technology boom.

"I think it's a mistake not to encourage more really bright folks who can fill the jobs that are having trouble being filled here in America, to limit their number. So I call upon Congress to be realistic and reasonable and raise that cap," Bush said, but did not say by how much he wanted the limit lifted.

He said that one part of the agenda to stay competitive was to study math and science, a theme he touched on in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

"It's one thing to research, but if you don't have somebody in that lab, well… And so I got some ideas for the Congress to consider. The first is to emphasize math and science early, and to make sure that the courses are rigorous enough that our children can compete globally," Bush said in a speech at the 3M Corporation.

He said there are more high-tech jobs in America today than people available to fill them. "So what do we do about that? And the reason it's important -- and the American citizen has got to understand it's important -- is if we don't do something about how to fill those high-tech jobs here, they'll go somewhere else where somebody can do the job."

"There are some who say, we can't worry about competition. It doesn't matter, it's here. It's a real aspect of the world in which we live," he said.

"And so one way to deal with this problem, and probably the most effective way, is to recognize that there's a lot of bright engineers and chemists and physicists from other lands that are either educated here, or received an education elsewhere but want to work here. And they come here under a programme called H1B visas," Bush said.

He said America should not fear competition. "It's important for us not to lose our confidence in changing times. It's important for us not to fear competition but welcome it."

Senior administration officials noted that the number of H-1B visas has fallen to 65,000 which in their estimation was 'too low' and that it was imperative 'to bump that up.'

". . . some of reports have called for increases of 10,000; others between 20,000 and 40,000. So there is a number of options on the table to be considered. But we'll work with Congress on that," said Claude Allen, assistant to the President for domestic policy.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bush; china; h1b; india; screwthepoochgeorge; visa
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To: montag813
Open borders. Unlimited visas for foreign workers. Bankruptcy prohibiition for Americans. What kind of agenda is this?

Maybe force everyone to accept third world wage levels and working conditions or don't eat?

221 posted on 02/04/2006 8:20:30 AM PST by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: sweetliberty
Kinda makes Americans sound both stupid and lazy.

Thats why the Bush government invited the UN to open offices in LA and GA to monitor our response to hurricane Katrina.
222 posted on 02/04/2006 8:20:32 AM PST by hedgetrimmer ("I'm a millionaire thanks to the WTO and "free trade" system--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: johnmecainrino
You need 60 votes to be in control of the senate.

Your right, the Republicans couldn't control the Senate if they had all 100 seats.
223 posted on 02/04/2006 8:21:02 AM PST by ARCADIA (Abuse of power comes as no surprise)
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To: JasonC
Believe what you will.

Its not worth wasting my time arguing with a government worker who probably belongs to a union of some sort, or at the very least benefits from one.

224 posted on 02/04/2006 8:22:44 AM PST by maui_hawaii
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To: raybbr
Homes are the paradigm case of "tangible", and equity is the accounting definition of asset.

You can sell your home for any price you like, decline any offer for it, or live in it and use it as you please, and all profits or losses on it are yours. Yes you own it.

No I am not a first year economics student, I graduated a long time ago. In younger days I did work professionally as an investment advisor, but now I am in software.

Have you ever seen a bank's balance sheet? Ever owned bank stock? Have any idea how they work?

225 posted on 02/04/2006 8:23:31 AM PST by JasonC
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To: JasonC
But how much is entirely up to the Congress, which can change trade laws any way they please anytime they please

You "free traders" keep saying this. Our treaty obligations are making that impossible.
226 posted on 02/04/2006 8:23:52 AM PST by hedgetrimmer ("I'm a millionaire thanks to the WTO and "free trade" system--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: SwordofTruth

I have thought of starting a programming outsourcing company. How do you pay your Indians? Are they independent contractors? Are there special taxes or fees?


227 posted on 02/04/2006 8:24:09 AM PST by CompProgrammer
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To: JasonC
You can sell your home for any price you like

Not if the government condemns it with eminent domain.
228 posted on 02/04/2006 8:24:52 AM PST by hedgetrimmer ("I'm a millionaire thanks to the WTO and "free trade" system--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: A. Pole
Ask anybody on the board about my opinions on global warming or green Nazis. I'm in favor of DDT because I am against malaria. Don't know what else you think you are saying with "environmental regulations". Common sense ones to keep things clean, np. Watermelon socialism by public scaremongering, no thanks.
229 posted on 02/04/2006 8:26:32 AM PST by JasonC
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To: hedgetrimmer
Illegals I quite agree about. Remittances by legal residents I see nothing wrong with, it is their money.
230 posted on 02/04/2006 8:27:24 AM PST by JasonC
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Speak English please if you expect a response.
231 posted on 02/04/2006 8:28:02 AM PST by JasonC
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To: JasonC
...all the nonsense about supposed net loss of jobs or supposed deterioration in job quality is nonsense, false, made up out of whole cloth, conscious ideological lying.

Yup, just an unsubstatiated rumors started by many millions of victims.

Obviously, the low unemployment rate isn't worth the paper it is printed on. It is a fabrication and an outright distortion.
232 posted on 02/04/2006 8:28:19 AM PST by ARCADIA (Abuse of power comes as no surprise)
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To: maui_hawaii
$16.41 per hour average. Source - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Look it up.
233 posted on 02/04/2006 8:29:06 AM PST by JasonC
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To: JasonC
Helped the navy make wonders for the last 40 years (civilian scientist in Navy labs). Merit, justice, opporunity - remember?

If not for the government protecting your particular job it would be headed overseas too.

You government workers get an iron rice bowl then start coming up with all kinds of cockeyed ideas.

Lets get in the real world for once.

You had your opportunity because opportunity was forced.

Unfortunately not everyone gets a government job.

234 posted on 02/04/2006 8:31:17 AM PST by maui_hawaii
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To: JasonC
I see nothing wrong with, it is their money.

It is theft from our economy, thats all. Before the WTO, most money earned in this country stayed in this country. It pays for our infrastructure and when people stay and spend money in their own community, the local economy prospers. The globalist "free traders" oppose, individual sovereignty, local control and local economies. They like the remittance money moving around because it becomes a foreign aid bargaining chip in their plan for a centrally controlled global economy.
235 posted on 02/04/2006 8:31:54 AM PST by hedgetrimmer ("I'm a millionaire thanks to the WTO and "free trade" system--Hu Jintao top 10 worst dictators)
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To: raybbr
I've delivered papers, washed dishes, flipped burgers, mowed lawns, hauled bricks, manned artillery pieces, shelved books, taught calculus, programmed computers, analysed stocks, done formal modeling, taught computing and modeling and helped research scientific best sellers, and I'm not 40 yet.
236 posted on 02/04/2006 8:32:35 AM PST by JasonC
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To: JasonC

Maybe you are not aware that many of the trade agreements we have made recently are set up so as to be mediated by the WTO or other world bodies. The WTO in many cases gets to decide whether we will have to issue more H-1B visas in order to be "fair" to our trading partner. This can result in international lawsuits aganst our corporations by our trading partners. Then pressure is applied by these corporations on our elected officials to make the needed changes. This is not always beneficial to the US.


237 posted on 02/04/2006 8:33:31 AM PST by antisocial (Texas SCV - Deo Vindice)
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To: JasonC

"Americans are too stupid for this level of work and we MUST bring in MORE foreigners!"

Is that what the President is saying?


238 posted on 02/04/2006 8:33:45 AM PST by B4Ranch (No expiration date is on the Oath to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic.)
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To: JasonC
Compared to 1950 thats great.

I can buy a soda for a dime and hamburger for a quarter. Dude I can live forever on a wage like that...

Hey, wait, there's inflation involved... its more complicated than a simple number.

You graduated from MIT... figure it out...

239 posted on 02/04/2006 8:34:28 AM PST by maui_hawaii
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To: hedgetrimmer
No it is not theft, nor from our economy. When a worker is paid it is in return for something - his work - which he does for the benefit of others. We get that work and those benefits, he gets some money from us in return. The work and its results are ours, the money is his, not ours. To do with what he pleases. Workers earn their wages, nobody owns them.
240 posted on 02/04/2006 8:34:30 AM PST by JasonC
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