ACT NOW. The House will likely vote on H.R.4241 TODAY or TOMORROW

iameddie2005

Registered Users (C)
PLEASE ACT TODAY!! House vote on HR4241 affects visa retrogression outcome

The House has started debating over Balancing today and tomorrow. It is important to act now to gain support from House of the Representatives because just having Senate's support does not mean it will solve the visa retrogression problem because House Rep 4241 (H.R. 4241) bill does not currently have any section for recapturing the number for EB visas or H1B visas. Since only Senate Bill 1932 (S. 1932) has them, conference committee will be held to reconciled the difference on these two bills.

If an amendment is not made to H.R.4241., it is hard to say whether people on the committee from the 2 houses will be both in favor of helping to solve the visa retrogression problem and the recapturing number from the Senate bill might not even make it.

If somebody in the house can bring up the subject to help amend the H.R. 4241 - Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to add Section 8001 and 8002 of the Senate bill to Section 5100 to the House bill, H.R. 4241. Then, there is hope that this will get signed and enacted.

Information on house schedule and the bill can be found at http://www.majoritywhip.gov/whipnoti...ate=11/14/2005

Please contact House Representative TODAY to express support for amending the House Bill to include Senate bill proposed immigration changes because voting will likely take place between today and tomorrow (or Friday evening depending on how fast they are going over).

Below is the letter which I wrote to my congressman. Please take a look and and send an email TODAY (ask your employers as well) to the House Representative(s) to voice your support.

You can go to the following website directly to submit the message
from the following link.

http://www3.capwiz.com/c-span/issues/bills/?
billtype=H.R.&billnumb=4241&congress=109

If the site is busy or not available, please go to
http://www.house.gov/ and search by zip code to bring up the
information for the Congressional delegate(s) in your district and
compose the email from his/her website.

Thanks!! --ed



===================================
Honorable Congressman <Name>:

As Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
mentioned a while ago
(http://www.competeamerica.org/econom...te/index.html),
"As we secure America from terrorists, we do not
want to risk losing the next Albert Einstein… We would be
a far poorer nation in many, many ways." The quote
pertains not only to recruit/retain many smart/skillful
around the world and protect US technologies against
international competitors, but also keep US jobs
intact by slowing down the outsourcing effort while reducing the
nation's deficit up to $150,000,000.00 as stated in Senate bill, S.
1932.

Many large corporations have already outsourced
heavily to other countries to take advantage of cheaper costs of
labor and material. While this helps with improving
these countries living standards in a positive way,
the outsourcing negatively affects many US industries,
including traditional manufacturing. Now, the trend indicates that
increasing mid-sized and smaller Corporate American companies are
outsourcing core corporate areas such as accounting and financing
operations to offshore countries. New York Times says even New
York City has outsourced the tickets such as parking fines that
people need to pay to an Alfrican country
(http://www.busyinternet.com/aboutus/...2_02/In New%
20York%20Tickets,%20Ghana%20Sees%20Orderly%20City. htm)

In retrospect, there is little that government can do to reverse
the outsourcing effort and the severe EB-based retrogression has
further forced away lots of bright minds from other countries.
EB-3 category, in particular, gets hit the most and there is
currently no quota for all countries for the rest of the fiscal
year, which starts this October and ends around next Sept.

The retrogression in the EB-3 category immediately
impacts many who are in the last stages
of the permanent resident process. They are not able to file for I-
485 to adjust their status to residents because the priority date is
not current. Depending on the countries affected, the
retrogression could be as far back as 01JAN99 to
15MAR01 (worldwide). This also affects many professionals with
graduate degree who have filed or soon will be filing under this
category as well. What this means is that while foreign workers who
are lawfully presented in the US and have been paying
taxes as Americans do now got stuck in the last stage of
immigration process due to a shortage of the visa numbers.

The temporary solution is to recapture the EB numbers from
the prior years and this does not mean increasing the quota on a
permenant basis. If S. 1932 is enacted into law, the following jobs
will remain in the U.S., albeit by the foreign
workers, contributing to the US companies,
revenues, and competitive advantage over the foreign
businesses by participating in the consumer and investment
market while contributing to the US Federal/State tax and Social
Security systems.

o If the unused H-1B numbers of 300,000 are not
recaptured and used, the U.S. businesses will have
to outsource 300,000 jobs to foreign countries.
o If 90,000 unused Employment Based immigrant visa
quota numbers are not recaptured and used, these
jobs will also be outsourced to foreign countries.

Could you please amend the H.R. 4241 to add Section
8001 and 8002 of the Senate bill to Section 5100 of
the House bill, H.R. 4241, which could potentially
reduce the nation's deficit up to $150,000,000.00.

Your consideration is very much appreciated!!

Sincerely yours,
 
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Email & fax sent to Congressman Pete Sessions

I have sent the following email & fax to Congressman Pete Sessions:
We request you to kindly bring an amendment to H.R. 4241 - Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to include recapture of 90000 visas for employment based green cards to be inline with Senate budget deficit reduction bill S1932.
I and my family members have been waiting from March 2002 to get adjustment of status (employment based green card) due to the unwarranted delays and inefficiency of USCIS.
Thank you very much
 
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[FINAL CHANCE TO ACT TODAY!! Votes on H.R. 4241 can work for/against S. 1932]

As you might know already, S. 1932 was part of a Budge Reconciliation Bill proposed by Senate and its immigration packet has a clause that allows filing I-485 (regardless of visa number availability) as well as obtaining EAD and Advanced Parole (while waiting for I-485 applications.) Though S. 1932 passed on 11/3/05 in the Senate, the bill can’t be enacted unless it is approved by both the Senate and the House. It is important to act TODAY to secure support from the House Representatives because the vote that might take place on Thursday or Friday could affect the outcome of visa retrogression on grand scale.

This week, the House continues debating over a series of bills, including their version of Budge Reconciliation Bill H.R. 4241 aiming to help with deficit reduction. H.R. 4241 currently says NOTHING about recapturing visa number for EB or H1b. If not revised, Conference Committee consisted of members of the Senate and the House still would need to reconcile the differences between H.R. 4241 and S. 1932. The process of drafting the uniform bill could potentially leave out the clause relevant in relieving visa retrogression if the pressure from the anti-immigration community is overwhelming.

For example, I have written twice to my congressional delegate in my district, the replies I received were exactly the same and it was anti-immigration. I have seen similar posting by other members who wrote to their House Reps, too.

If we can be more proactive and contact House Representatives to convince them to introduce this on the House floor and make the amendment to the H.R. 4241 to add the parts in the Senate bill (S. 1932) that deals with solving visa retrogression to Section 5100 of the House bill (H.R. 4241), there would improve the chances that visa retrogression problem will be resolved.

Please email/fax/phone House Representative(s) TODAY to support the amendment of the House Bill to include Senate bill proposed immigration changes. You can efficiently send faxes to members of the Senate/House using the WebFax Service feature at http://www.IsnAmerica.org (Immigrants Support Network America). The registration only takes a minute and you can send the faxes to ALL Senators and House of Representatives in your state who are undecided or pro-immigration with just a simple click of a button. I have used it and it works nicely and this is so much better than emailing/faxing to Congressman individually as I did earlier. However, it seems not many used it, only 1098 users sending out faxes as of today.

For your information, the list below shows the leaders in the House and Senate and they may have profound influence on the committee member selection as Speaker of the House names the members for the conference. Since the WebFax can easily fax to all members of the Senate and the House, it is worth faxing to all members in your state and then call up the leaders tomorrow at Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 at any time.

***** LEADERS IN THE HOUSE *****
- Dennis Hastert (R-IL) -- Speaker of the House
- Roy Blunt (R-MO) -- Majority Leader
- Deborah Pryce (R-OH) -- Republican Conference Chair
- Jim Nussle (R-IA) -- Chair of Budget Committee Chair
- Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) -- Chair of Judiciary Committee
- Lamar Smith (R-TX) -- Senior Member of the Judiciary Committee

***** LEADERS IN THE SENATE *****
- Bill Frist (R-TN) -- Majority Leader
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY) -- Majority Whip
- Jon Kyl (R-AZ) -- Republican Policy Committee Chair
- Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- Chair of the Judiciary Committee
- Judd Gregg (R-NH) -- Chair of the Budget Committee
(source - Hammond Law Group update)

The content to which I have sent via WebFax to all Congressmen in CA is listed below. Unfortunately, none of the leaders I have listed are based in California. It will be tremendous help if all readers of the forum send the faxes (from states covering the leaders as well) since the anti-immigration lobbyists have done a nice job in organizing their campaigns.

Thanks!! --ed


===============================================================
[Subject: Please support Section 8001, Recapture of unused visa numbers, of the Senate Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2006.]



I am a concerned constituent and I urge you to vote in support of the Senate modifications incorporated in the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2006 (S. 1932) passed by the Senate. Besides incorporating the House recommendations of increasing the L-1 visa fees, Section.8001 - Recapture of unused visa numbers, has provisions that serve to alleviate the problems of the American industry and numerous applicants. The action taken by the Senate Judiciary Committee proposes an increase in revenue by recapturing authorized, but never used, visa numbers for foreign workers with key skills in jobs for which U.S. workers are not available.

1. It may be noted that professionals who will be considered for these recaptured visa numbers, in most cases, are already employed in U.S. companies for the last 4-6 years and are law-abiding, tax-paying legal residents. They have been certified by the U.S. Department of Labor as high-skilled workers who will not be displacing existing American workers in the market. These applicants also have been certified to be highly qualified and suitable for the positions that the immigration opportunity is for.

2. The version proposed by the Senate Judiciary Committee has fee increases for L-1 as recommended by the House Judiciary Committee. It also proposes to raise the revenue from the recaptured visas.

3. The Senate Judiciary package would recapture unused employment based visas. This enables the U.S. industry to attract and retain the best talent from around the world, which is a major factor for American competitiveness. Arbitrary quotas on employment-based green cards for highly educated and skilled workers would jeopardize America's ability to attract and retain best talent-and ultimately jobs-in the United States.

4. The Senate Judiciary proposal permits the filing of I-485 application without having to wait for the priority date to become current. If this important proposal is not passed it hurts many highly skilled and qualified professionals currently holding key positions in the U.S. Without the ability to file for I-485 many qualified professionals will be forced to leave the U.S. and return back to their own countries taking highly specialized knowledge and experience with them. This is a major long term disadvantage for the US.

I, hereby urge you to vote in support of Section 8001, Recapture of unused visa numbers, of the Senate Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2006 when it comes up for consideration. Your vote will not only address the issue of deficit reduction but will also ensure that the United States of America will be in the forefront of science and technology and will retain the best talent from around the world.

Sincerely,
 
Where on isnamerica.org to send faxes for HR 4241? I only see the link for 1932. Help me please!!!
 
It's the same link

hi, Bamba

Actually, there is no separate link for H.R. 4241. You would just use the link for S. 1932 to voice your support.

The reason is that we should make sure that Representatives of the House are aware of the immigration packet portion of the S. 1932 ---- WebFax does this by allowing us to show our support by sending it to the members of the House. It doesn't hurt to also send to the Senators again. :)

Thanks!!! --ed
 
H.R. 4241 PASSED. Our effort paid off, but more action needed

As most of you know already, Bill S.1932 deals with Budge Reconciliation and its immigration packet has a clause that allows filing I-485 regardless of visa number availability as well as obtaining EAD and Advanced Parole with the pending I-485.

Though S. 1932 was passed on 11/3/05 in the Senate and its similar House version H.R. 4241 barely passed on 11/18 (217-215). The immigration clause in S.1932 can't be enacted and acted upon unless it is approved by both the Senate and the House. What's the next legislative step you might ask?

Conference Committee consisted of Senators and House Representatives still need to reconcile the differences between H.R. 4241 and S. 1932. The process of drafting the uniform bill could potentially leave out the clause relevant in relieving visa retrogression.

Everyone looking at this list should help out and write/fax/call the Congressional delegates in the Senate and the House because anti-immigration force would also lobby hard to get the Congressman to not inclulde the clause related to resolving visa retrogression, which many readers in this forum desperately need.

Please ask your friends and family members (i.e. parents, spouse, brothers and sisters) to write/fax/phone to your Congressional Delegates TODAY to show the support of S.1932.

There is a free service provided at http://www.IsnAmerica.org that allows you to efficiently send however many faxes to members of the Senate/House using the WebFax Service. The registration only takes a minute and you can send the faxes to ALL Senators and House of Representatives in your state who are undecided or pro-immigration with just a simple click of a button. My friend and I have used it and it works nicely.

For your information, the list below shows the leaders in the House and Senate and they may have profound influence on the committee member selection as Speaker of the House names the members for the conference. Since the WebFax can easily fax to all members of the Senate and the House, it is worth faxing to all members in your state and then call up the leaders at Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 to show your support and express your concerns.

***** LEADERS IN THE HOUSE *****
- Dennis Hastert (R-IL) -- Speaker of the House
- Roy Blunt (R-MO) -- Majority Leader
- Deborah Pryce (R-OH) -- Republican Conference Chair
- Jim Nussle (R-IA) -- Chair of Budget Committee Chair
- Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) -- Chair of Judiciary Committee
- Lamar Smith (R-TX) -- Senior Member of the Judiciary Committee

***** LEADERS IN THE SENATE *****
- Bill Frist (R-TN) -- Majority Leader
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY) -- Majority Whip
- Jon Kyl (R-AZ) -- Republican Policy Committee Chair
- Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- Chair of the Judiciary Committee
- Judd Gregg (R-NH) -- Chair of the Budget Committee
(source - Hammond Law Group update)

Unfortunately, none of the leaders I have listed are based in California. It will be tremendous help if all readers of the forum send the faxes (from states covering the leaders as well) because the anti-immigration lobbyists might have similar tools and/or better experience in organizing their campaigns.

Thanks!! –ed
 
According to C-Span, the House is adjourned for the Thanksgiving break and will be back on Dec. 6 2pm EST

Please contact as many Congressional delegates (Senators and House Representatives) as possible in the mean time as I mentioned in the previous posting so that the immigration packet can make it into the uniform bill when the Conference Committee reconciles H.R. 4241 and S. 1932
 
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iameddie2005 said:
According to C-Span, the House is adjourned for the Thanksgiving break and will be back on Dec. 6 2pm EST

Please contact as many Congressional delegates (Senators and House Representatives) as possible in the mean time as I mentioned in the previous posting so that the immigration packet can make it into the uniform bill when the Conference Committee reconciles H.R. 4241 and S. 1932
Basically, another 2 or 3 weeks of intense effort is still required according to Attorney Oh who hosts http://www.immigration-law.com,

Because of the differences between the two bills, S. 1932 is expected to the Conference Committee after the Congress returns to the session the second week in December 2005. This means that the businesses, academic community, and immigrant community should focus on the House-Senate conference committee to resolve differences between the S. 1932 as passed by the Senate and the S.1932 as amended by the House. H.R. 4241 which was passed that night is merged into S. 1932 and out of the picture hereon. The Senators and the House members have returned to your community for the next two weeks and it is a golden opportunity for the supports of the original S. 1932 to contact their Congressional delegations in their community during this holiday season. The House Speaker and the GOP majority whips in the Senate and House will play an important role in the conference process.
 
iameddie2005 said:
Basically, another 2 or 3 weeks of intense effort is still required according to Attorney Oh who hosts http://www.immigration-law.com,

Because of the differences between the two bills, S. 1932 is expected to the Conference Committee after the Congress returns to the session the second week in December 2005. This means that the businesses, academic community, and immigrant community should focus on the House-Senate conference committee to resolve differences between the S. 1932 as passed by the Senate and the S.1932 as amended by the House. H.R. 4241 which was passed that night is merged into S. 1932 and out of the picture hereon. The Senators and the House members have returned to your community for the next two weeks and it is a golden opportunity for the supports of the original S. 1932 to contact their Congressional delegations in their community during this holiday season. The House Speaker and the GOP majority whips in the Senate and House will play an important role in the conference process.

Faxed to all GA senators and House Repr and pro-immigration senators and HRs
 
Again, if you would like help out and/or not sure how this affects you and what you can to help. Please go to http://www.immigration-law.com and look under heading "11/18/2005: House Passed H.R. 4241 by Vote 217-215 at 01:41 a.m. Today" and click on the "Read and help the immigration community's last minute effort"

If you haven't signed up already, you can also sign up for the following forum. If you have already signed up for it, please spread the words.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/techworkers1
 
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