Eric Thomas or Frances Cox 202-822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov.7, 2007

Compete America Applauds House and Senate Conferees
for Removal of Grassley/Sanders Amendment from Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations

Washington D.C. – Compete America thanked House and Senate conferees for removing the punitive Grassley/Sanders Amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill from the legislation’s final conference report. 

The amendment included a fee hike for H-1B visas of $3500 per visa, on top of current fees totaling $1500.  Compete America had protested the steep fee increase on temporary work visas for highly educated foreign professionals as anticompetitive in the face of increased global competition.

“We are grateful that conferees recognized that the Grassley/Sanders amendment was a tax on America’s innovation economy, and was a counterproductive and punitive measure,” said Robert Hoffman, Vice President for Government and Public Affairs, Oracle, and Co-Chair of Compete America.

The Grassley/Sanders fee hike was intended to provide additional scholarships for U.S. students.  Hoffman noted, however, that in the last eight years U.S. employers have paid more than $1billion in H-1B visa fees – funding more than 40,000 scholarships for U.S. students in math and science, supporting science programs for 75,000 middle and high school students, and training more than 82,000 U.S. workers.  This is in addition to extensive voluntary support for education.

“U.S. companies strongly support the development of U.S. talent, but until the pipeline for native-born scientists and engineers meets demand, we must be able to attract and retain top talent from around the world,” Hoffman continued.  “Innovation is the key to America’s economic leadership, yet we are in danger of falling behind our international competitors.  Congress can make a difference if they act now to reform both the H-1B visa and employment based Green Card programs.”   

For more information on how highly educated immigration benefits America, please visit www.competeamerica.org. 

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of corporations, educators, research institutions and trade associations concerned about legal, employment-based immigration and committed to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce necessary to ensure continued innovation, job creation and leadership in a worldwide economy.

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