NEWS CONTACTS: Eric Thomas or Frances Cox (202) 822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 3, 2005

Compete America Urges Defeat of Byrd Amendment to Budget Reconciliation Bill

Washington, D.C. - Compete America urged the U.S. Senate to reject an amendment offered by Senator Robert Byrd (D-VW) that would strip the additional employment-based (EB) and H-1B visas from the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005. The visa provisions included in the Omnibus were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee 14-2, in recognition of the current crisis-level shortage of H-1B and employment-based visas (green cards).

"Instead of the Senate Judiciary Committee's preferred approach, which will help American employers to grow, compete and innovate here in the United States, the Byrd Amendment substitutes a heavy tax on American business," said Sandra Boyd, Vice President, National Association of Manufacturers and Compete America Chair.

The Byrd Amendment adopts language passed by the House Judiciary Committee that would impose a $1,500 fee on L-1 (intra-company transferee) visas. The L visa is used by U.S. companies and multinationals to bring executives, managers and employees with specialized knowledge to the United States on short-term assignment, and is essential to international business operations.

"In an environment of fierce global competition, additional fees on the L program make the United States a less attractive place to do business and could result in projects being moved abroad," Boyd stated. "The Byrd Amendment is counterproductive and should be voted down."

Compete America strongly supports the original language as approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Among the specifics of the measure, the following are critical to easing the visa shortage, while raising significant Federal revenue:

• The measure would "recapture" employment-based (green card) immigrant visa numbers that were available by statute but unused in previous years because of INS processing backlogs, and make them available again at a rate of up to 90,000;

• The measure would provide that only employment-based immigrants, and not their spouses and children, would count toward the annual limit on employment-based immigration; and

• It would "recapture" H-1B visa numbers that were available by statute but unused in previous years, and make them available again at a rate of up to 30,000 per year.

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of more than 200 corporations, universities, 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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