The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE IMPORTANCE OF ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF H1B VISAS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1052 on March 15, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE IMPORTANCE OF ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF H1B VISAS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I joined a number of colleagues this morning, some of whom will be speaking here this afternoon, about the importance of addressing the issue of H1B visas.
As I visit with local business leaders in central Texas, I know that the number one high technology issue in our community, and I think across this country, is work force development, the fact that we could have and do have already some serious shortages of skilled workers that can slow down the expansion that has fueled our economic growth throughout the country.
From offices regularly assisting our local high-tech companies in securing H1B visas, I also know that this is one of the answers that can assist us in addressing this worker shortage.
One of the reasons that central Texas prospers is that we live the lyrics of a great Lyle Lovett song: Oh, no, you are not from Texas, but Texas wants you anyway. And it is because we have been able to reach out and bring the best and brightest, not only from all over the country but from all over the world, that we have been able to keep our high-tech economy booming.
I support this bipartisan effort to get increases in the number of visas for highly-skilled high-tech workers to address this problem of worker shortage. It is a stopgap measure, however. We are only at March and we are already running out of the H1B visas. We need to solve the problem for our high-tech companies now, but we need to realize that this is not a permanent solution.
That is why this legislation also increases the fees for getting these visas, and then will plow that money back into developing our domestic work force and helping our teachers and our young people pursue careers in technology.
I believe that it is important also that we not only focus on the amount or the number of visas, or the amount of the money that will be charged to get them, but on the entire system that the Immigration Service and the Department of Labor use in addressing this issue.
I find it a system that is so plagued with bureaucracy that it is almost a daily problem for my office in Austin, as well as for the many companies with whom we work. It is time that that bureaucracy move into the electronic age in which our businesses operate at present.
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So a principal focus of this bill is to see that the Immigration Service and the Department of Labor recognize that many people search for jobs now over the Internet and recognize those postings to fulfill the statutory requirements, and that we move to a system where one can file for an application on-line, where one can track an application on-
line, and we reduce the level of bureaucracy in this entire process.
I am pleased to join in this bipartisan effort. I believe that it will be successful. There is already some legislation moving in the Senate. The White House has recently announced an interest in this topic. With good bipartisan support here, there is no reason that we should not be able to act and fulfill this very definite need in the very near future.
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