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The
Center for Pubic Integrity has an article about a tech
trade group that is pressing Congress to ease immigration laws:
"A technology trade group that’s aggressively pressing Congress
to ease key immigration laws is heavily funded by one of the world’s
wealthiest corporations. Corporate
documents indicate that software giant Microsoft Corp. gave the
nonprofit Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) nearly $2.5
million between July 2011 and June 2012. Microsoft also gave at least $1
million to ACT during the company’s 2009,
2010
and 2011
fiscal years — although it did not disclose the specific payment
amounts.Microsoft representatives declined to comment on the company’s
relationship with ACT.
In addition to Microsoft, the trade group’s members include a few of
the biggest names in technology, such as eBay Inc., Intel
Corp., Oracle Corp. and VeriSign Inc. ACT has been among a bevy of tech
groups lobbying heavily on the comprehensive immigration reform bill,
known as S. 744, which the U.S. Senate approved last month.
Most notable among their concerns: expanding the H1-B visa program,
which allows highly skilled foreign residents to work in the U.S.
temporarily. “Your support for S. 744 will allow America to better
realize opportunities for innovation and job creation today, as well as
secure our economic strength in the future,” read a June 20 letter to
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell, Further below is
the letter they mention from Google, Facebook,
Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle and everyone else on the "who's who"
list in the tech industry.
The fate of immigration reform now lies with the U.S. House of
Representatives, where its prospects are uncertain. ACT, for one, is
continuing to press its case. But read this stinging report from Roll Call on the Senate's immigration bill:
"Too much of the bill is corporate giveaways, at the expense of wage
growth and job opportunities for U.S. workers. A massive guest worker
program will fill year-round jobs in lower-skilled occupations like
housekeeping and landscaping, and a separate, existing seasonal program
for similar jobs will double in size. The Senate apparently doesn’t care
that wages have been flat and unemployment in double digits for years in
these occupations.
The tech sector’s lobbying firestorm — based on unsupportable claims
about severe labor shortages in science, technology, engineering and math
fields — paid off.
S744 nearly triples the troubled H-1B guest worker program without
fixing its loopholes and abuses despite little evidence of a high-tech
labor shortage. Most H-1B guest workers are employed in information
technology jobs, where wages are stuck at 1990s levels and unemployment
remains above pre-recession levels.
To the benefit of contractors and supplier firms, the bill wastefully
spends $46 billion for more drones, equipment and manpower to further
militarize the southern border. The additional 20,000 border patrol agents
the bill mandates will have little to do since the net flow of
unauthorized migrants from Mexico is already near zero and, because of
Mexican demographic trends, is unlikely to increase significantly.
Also read: H-2B Work Visas Costing Taxpayers Millions
--- THE LETTER ---
June 20, 2013
The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Leader Reid and Leader McConnell:
As representatives of the leading technology innovators, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and job creators in the United States, we write to request your support for S.744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. This critically important legislation would help ensure that America continues to be the location
of the world’s most innovative and fastest growing industries—those that rely on intellectual property and highly educated talent. Your support for S. 744 will allow America to better realize opportunities for innovation and job creation today, as well as secure our economic strength in the future.
America is the most prosperous country in the world. The U.S. technology sector employs over 6 million Americans and contributes $1 trillion to our country’s Gross Domestic Product. Our success stems from our historic diversity, and the constant infusion of new and innovative ideas fostered by our democratic system of education and innovation.
We applaud the Gang of Eight, the bipartisan sponsors of S. 744, as well as the bill’s bipartisan supporters in the Senate Judiciary Committee, who have collaboratively crafted and refined a comprehensive bill that would truly modernize a broken and outdated immigration system. We strongly believe the many reforms in S. 744 that impact high skilled immigration – including key improvements in the availability of both green cards and H-1B visas – will help address the national talent shortage in the near-term, while also creating a long-term pipeline of American workers through establishing a much-needed new fund for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, including computer science education. The bill will also protect and better prepare American workers, and enable employers and entrepreneurs of all sizes in every state to recruit and retain the world’s best talent.
Senate approval of S. 744 is essential if our economy will continue to foster innovation and invigorate many U.S. business sectors through an educated and highly skilled workforce of domestic and foreign-born talent. Absent reform, if every American graduate receiving an advanced STEM degree gets a job, the U.S. is estimated to face at least 200,000 unfilled
advanced-degree STEM jobs by 2018. These unfilled jobs represent lost opportunities for our country, but with S. 744, we can fill these jobs, create new ones and invest in a future of economic growth.
We urge your support for S. 744, which will help to open a new path to American innovation, American economic strength, and greater opportunities for American workers.
Sincerely,
Maury Blackman,
President & Chief Executive Office
Accela
Khaled Naim
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
Addy Inc.
Darrell Ford
Chief Human Resources Officer
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
Pankaj Jindal
Chief Operating Officer
Akraya Inc.
Hannah Kain
Chief Executive Officer
ALOM
Eric Davidson
President
American Automation & Communications, Inc.
David A. Raymond
President & Chief Executive Officer
American Council of Engineering
Companies
Mike Splinter
Chief Executive Officer
Applied Materials, Inc.
Kevin Surace
Chief Executive Officer
Appvance
Steven Zylstra
President & Chief Executive Officer
Arizona Technology Council
Richard Lord
President & Chief Executive Officer
Associated Industries of Massachusetts
Morgan Reed
Executive Director
Association for Competitive Technology
Randall Stephenson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
AT&T
Carl Bass
President & Chief Executive Officer
Autodesk, Inc.
Kevin Kennedy
Chief Executive Officer
Avaya Inc.
Jim Wunderman
President & Chief Executive Officer
Bay Area Council
Michael S. Scheeringa
President & Chief Executive Officer
BBA Aviation Flight Support
Brad Bullington
Chief Executive Officer
Bridgelux
Matt Reid
Senior Vice President
External Affairs, BSA | The Software
Alliance
Mike Montgomery
Executive Director
CALinnovates
Pasquale Romano
President & Chief Executive Officer
ChargePoint
Richard Lowenthal
Chief Technology Officer
ChargePoint
John Chambers
Chief Executive Officer
Cisco Systems
Kim Polese
Chairman
ClearStreet Inc.
Edward Black
President & Chief Executive Officer
Computer & Communications Industry
Association
Todd Thibodeaux
President & Chief Executive Officer
Computing Technology Industry Association
Gary Shapiro
President & Chief Executive Officer
Consumer Electronics Association
David Spreng
Managing Partner
Crescendo Ventures
Kim Fennell
President & Chief Executive Officer
deCarta Inc.
Steve Price
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Dell
Don Means
Founder & Principal
Digital Village
John Donahoe
President & Chief Executive Officer
eBay Inc.
Ronald Sege
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Echelon Corporation
Vishal Verma
Partner
EDGEWOOD Ventures
Fabio Rosati
Chief Executive Officer
Elance, Inc.
Michael McGeary
Co-Founder
Engine
Belal Hummadi
Chief Executive Officer
ExciteM
John McAdam
President & Chief Executive Officer
F5 Networks Inc. |
Mark Zuckerberg
Chief Executive Officer
Facebook
Jerry Mix
Chief Executive Officer
Finelite Inc.
Caroline Dowling
President INS
Flextronics
Jeff Bussgang
General Partner
Flybridge Capital
Martin Schoeppler
President & Chief Executive Officer
FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc.
Eric Schmidt
Executive Chairman
Google
Rami Branitzky
Chief Executive Officer
Grok
Koichi Fujikawa
Co-Founder
Hapyrus Inc.
Josh Mendelsohn
Managing Director
Hattery
Fred Hoch
President & Chief Executive Officer
Illinois Technology Association
Thomas Fallon
Chief Executive Officer
Infinera
Dean Garfield
President & Chief Executive Officer
Information Technology Industry Council
James Gutierrez
Chief Executive Officer
Insikt
Douglas Melamed
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Intel
Adriane Brown
President & Chief Executive Officer
Intellectual Ventures
Paul Lovoi
Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer
Jan Medical
Kevin Johnson
Chief Executive Officer
Juniper Networks
Mary Meeker
General Partner
Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
John Doerr
Partner
Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
Shaun Cross
Chief Executive Officer
Lee & Hayes
Josh Becker
Chief Executive Officer
Lex Machina
Marty Beard
President & Chief Executive Officer
LiveOps, Inc.
Karl Sun
Chief Executive Officer
Lucid Software Inc.
Geetha Vallabhaneni
Chief Executive Office
Luminix, Inc.
Matt McIlwain
Managing Director
Madrona Venture Group
Tom Hopcroft
Chief Executive Officer
Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council
Darlene McCalmont
Chief Executive Officer
McCalmont Engineering
Steve Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft
Robert Greifeld
Chief Executive Officer
NASDAQ OMX
William Reinsch
President
National Foreign Trade Council
Bobbie Kilberg
President & Chief Executive Officer
Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC)
Randell J. McMills
Senior Vice President
Regional Executive the Americas, nxp Semiconductors
Ralph Schmitt
President & Chief Executive Officer
OCZ Technology Group, Inc.
Eric Stang
Chief Executive Officer
Ooma
Chris Larsen
Chief Executive Officer
OpenCoin, Inc.
Safra Catz
President & Chief Financial Officer
Oracle
Joseph Taylor
Chairman & CEO
Panasonic Corporation of North America
Maryse Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
Pokeware |
Paul Jacobs
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Qualcomm Incorporated
Lanham Napier
Chief Executive Officer
Rackspace
Steve Case
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman
Revolution LLC
Rita Cepeda
Chancellor
San Jose Evergreen/Community College Distirct
Barbara Holzapfel
SVP & Managing Director
SAP Labs North America
Denny McGuirk
President & Chief Executive Officer
SEMI
Brian Toohey
President & Chief Executive Officer
Semiconductor Industry Association
Greg Becker
President & Chief Executive Officer
Silicon Valley Bank
Carl Guardino
President & Chief Executive Officer
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Scott Lang
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer
Silver Spring Networks
Ken Wasch
President
Software & Information Industry Association
Gary Yacoubian
Chief Executive Officer
Specialty Technologies, LLC
Andrew Ball
President, West Region
Suffolk
Virginia Klausmeier
Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder
Sylvatex Inc
Steve Bennett
President & Chief Executive Officer
Symantec Corporation
Aart de Geus
Chairman and co-Chief Executive Officer
Synopsys, Inc.
Scott Allison
Chief Executive Officer
Teamly Inc
Bruce Mehlman
Executive Director
Technology CEO Council
Shawn Osborne
President & Chief Executive Officer
TechAmerica
Alix Burns
Acting Chief Executive Officer
TechNet
Terry Howerton
Founder
TechNexus LLC
Grant Seiffert
President
Telecommunications Industry Association
Rich Templeton
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer
Texas Instruments Incorporated
James Brett
President & Chief Executive Officer
The New England Council
Steve Westly
Managing Director
The Westly Group
Ryan Rogowski
Chief Executive Officer
Translate Abroad
Robert Lally
President
TransPak, Inc.
Steven Berglund
President & Chief Executive Officer
Trimble Navigation
Stephen Kaufer
President & Chief Executive Officer
TripAdvisor
David Cush
Chief Executive Officer
Virgin America
Susan Sigl
President & Chief Executive Officer
Washington Technology Industry Association
Steve Milligan
President & Chief Executive Officer
Western Digital Corporation
Moshe Gavrielov
Chief Executive Officer
Xilinx
Marissa Mayer
Chief Executive Officer
Yahoo
Jeremy Stoppelman
Chief Executive Officer
Yelp
Mark Pincus
Chief Executive Officer
Zynga
Evan Burfield
Co-founder
1776 |
cc: Members of the United States Senate
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