[Mick2000]

Some U.S. congressmen are actually trying to do something about the jobs loss to H1B, L1, and outsourcing

[dfwgator]

Let's just hope that the cure isn't worse than the disease.

[goldstategop]

Which is opposed by a Corporate America more concerned about the bottom line than the welfare of the country it supposedly resides in.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Congress can start by abolishing the federal income tax and eliminating the junk science environmental regulations and antiquated labor laws from the 1930s.

[RockyMtnMan]

I sent an email to the GOP asking them what their stance was going to be a few days ago with regard to offshoring. I got a reply back that it was being added to the Chairman's daily report. If I get a more definitive response I plan on sharing it with the rest of Free Republic.

[Semper Paratus]

It would be good if the Administration got out in front of this issue before some of the "Gang of Seven" steal it.

[ServesURight]

BUMP

[harpseal]

"The Department of Defense provision is what we call a unicorn provision — because what they want to buy doesn't exist. Flat-panel screens are no longer made in the United States," says Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America. "You would have to recreate those industries in the United States, and those industries would exist for only one client, the Department of Defense," he says.

Gee I guess the Springfield and Harpers ferry arsenals should never have been established and the uSA from 1789 to 1812 should haver bought all its cannon and muskets from England. Becdause teh flat pannels are not currently manufactured in the USA and they actually are critical to the defense of the USA maybe we do need some production capability here. What a concept.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

My Toyota is made in the US. My Honda is made in the US. What is wrong with having foreign companies setting up manufacturing facilities in the US?

Where Congress comes in is to make sure that the business environment in the US is good. This includes taxes, environmental laws, labor laws, educational levels, etc, and maybe occasionally over-riding state laws on occasion.IMHO

[a_Turk]

This will kill the JSF..

[Nowhere Man]

Some U.S. congressmen are actually trying to do something about the jobs loss to H1B, L1, and outsourcing

Thanks God, but I hope we can get this through and make it a law, that will be a challenge unto itself but I'm glad to see something moving here.

[sauropod]

This is a Good Thing.

[HurkinMcGurkin]

If the American people could have successfully stopped manufacturing jobs from going overseas by boyocotting any company that closed upo shop here and moved, then this problem now with "white collar" jobs leaving probably would never have happened. But we as a people opted for slightly lower prices on shoes and VCR's rather than help keep our own families and friends employed.

I am all for a free market. We are reaping what we have sown. I have little sympathy for an out-of-work techie who is sitting around in his/her appartment full of junk made in thrid world countries complaining about not being able to find a job.

[Ravenstar]

I would take a close look at this. The vast majority of Repubs and Demos are "Free Traders" (maybe that should be traitors)which means the elimination of all middle classes. The critical mass of the world is peasantry so when you compete third world standards of living against middle classes you don't get the middle classes lifting up the third world peasantry but the third world peasantry eliminating the middle classes. Then you just have the elitists left to rule the world granted a morally depraved and more impoverished world.

Ravenstar

[wjcsux]

I don't like the government getting involved with regulating what businesses do. This however, is a good thing because these companies have outsourced so much at the expense of the U.S. worker. The best thing our government can do is create a better corporate climate for industry. They need to tell the eco-nuts, along with the rest of the anti-business idiots to f*ck off.

[Lunatic Fringe]

I have the solution. For every job that is exported to another country, or for every job that is filled with an H1B applicant, the company should be required to pay a Foreign Worker Tax equivalent to the money "saved" by exporting the job.

[Rodney King]

It is true that it would cause some short term pain for the government if they had to buy from the US, and for US companies if we tried to stop the outsourcing.

The easy answer to this is to pass the bills now, but not have them kick in for two years. That way US investors can plan production facilities, and corporations can plan moving their operations back home.

[sam_paine]

This is such BS. Corporations outsource because shareholders demand to see its short term results in SEC filings.

CEO's and BoDs are held completely by the balls by short-term shareholders, and will be fired themselves if they don't do these popular outsourcing moves.

If congresscritters want to do something, try to restructure reporting requirements to focus investor atention on long-term corporate viability, and you will see less of these short-sighted moves.

[rmmcdaniell]

Memo to Bush: India will have zero electoral votes in 2004.

[Thane_Banquo]

The overemphasis on quantity of jobs (instead of quality) is a relic of the Keynesian era. Old habits die hard.

If our aerospace/defense industries are not forced to compete with foreign firms, they will not work as hard to create new technologies and improvements. Our troops will be armed with second or third tier equipment, or worse.

[Ayn Rand wannabe]

Since most people here are for this idea, can someone please explain why regulating business more than it already is will provide any incentive for them to stay state-side? It seems to me that the more they are regulated, the more they will search for over-seas opportunities, where they will not have to deal with union labor, enviro-wackos, etc.

We all agree that there is a problem, but how will this solve it? This solution seems worse than the problem.