A bill to curtail the number of Americans being replaced by foreign guest workers through the H-1B visa “would have zero impact” on the program, according to an expert on the issue.
Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Doug Collins (R-IL) have reintroduced the “Keeping American Jobs Act”, which they claim will tackle abuses of the H-1B foreign guest worker visa.
“The Keeping American Jobs Act protects American workers by preventing bad actors from abusing the system in order to offshore jobs,” Collins told Live Mint.
“Companies have the opportunity to bring workers from overseas on H-1B visas in the event that qualified Americans aren’t available, but we can’t allow the law to be exploited to displace American workers and send their jobs abroad,” Collins continued.
But, NumbersUSA’s Director of Government Relations Rosemary Jenks said the congressmen are “misunderstanding” what the H-1B visa program actually does, as far as Americans being replaced by cheaper, foreign workers.
“This doesn’t have any impact on outsourcing jobs,” Jenks told Breitbart Texas. “H-1B’s are coming here. This shows a misunderstanding of the entire H-1B program. H-1B has nothing to do with moving jobs abroad.”
Some 85,000 foreign workers are allotted jobs in the U.S. every year under the H-1B visa program, often leaving Americans to train their replacements.
Jenks told Breitbart Texas that this H-1B bill is not actually reform at all, and instead is “just another case of Members of Congress being sadly confused.”
“This is pathetic,” Jenks said. They need to actually understand what the H-1B program is. This would have zero impact.”
The bill states that it would “prevent the transfer of knowledge from United States workers for the purpose of facilitating their jobs being moved abroad.”
Nonetheless, while U.S. jobs have been shipped overseas in order for companies to pay less for workers, that issue is entirely unrelated to the abuses of the H-1B visa.
The H-1B visa remains incredibly unpopular with American voters. As Breitbart Texas reported, only 30 percent of Americans say companies bringing in foreign workers to fill jobs is necessary.
Additionally, some 44 percent said those foreign workers take jobs away. The vast majority of Americans also said the number of H-1B visas allotted every year to companies should either be decreased or kept at the current levels.
The use of the H-1B visa was panned by President Donald Trump on the campaign trail last year, often holding rallies with fired Disney and tech industry employees who were forced to train their replacements.
However, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said the H-1B abuses are not a reform priority for the Trump Administration this year, as Breitbart Texas reported.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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