Letter to Nancy Pelosi on Skill Bill

Begin forwarded message:

From: Anthony Watson <[email protected]>
Date: November 21, 2006 11:26:47 AM EST
To: David Farber <[email protected]>
Subject: Letter to Nancy Pelosi on Skill Bill

Good Morning Doctor Farber:

Have not heard much about this bill that is floating through Congress  
on the IP list.  I could see where it might be a very touchy issue  
for your list to discuss, but nonetheless I am forwarding the text of  
a letter I just sent to Nancy Pelosi regarding the proposed H1B visa  
increase.

Thanks,
~aw



Dear Madam Speaker:


It has come to my attention that there is a bill in Congress to raise  
the H1B visa limit…AGAIN!!!

The SKILL Act of 2006 has been designed to devastate the careers of  
professionals all across America.  The legislation will:

A) Immediately double the number of H1B visas, which are allowed each  
year to bring in low paid computer professionals from other countries.

B) Increase the number of H1B visas allowed by 20% each year  
indefinitely into the future.

The SKILL Act of 2006 is actually two bills.  One in the House of  
Representatives (HR5744) and one in the Senate (S-2691).

In my opinion, this legislation is a direct assault on the American  
middle class by the wealthy corporate gentry who have been buying and  
selling legislation for generations using men like Jack Abramoff.

I have been a computer programmer in the United States for over  
twenty years.   I am greatly concerned by these bills.  Right after  
the Internet flameout at the turn of the century burned up tons of  
programming jobs, the H1B visa limit remained at 150,000.  There just  
were no jobs for programmers anywhere in the United States.  At least  
not domestic coders, because all those H1B visas kept getting gobbled  
up even when there were literally hundreds of thousands of  
programmers out of work!  Those were tough times for American  
programmers looking for jobs.  I felt great relief when the H1B visa  
limit was returned to the 65,000 level.

Corporate America wants these changes for obvious reasons.  After  
all, it is very tough to balance work and family with deadlines and  
overtime. Sometimes those darn uppity American workers want to be  
with their families.  The more unpaid overtime that can be squeezed  
out of a worker, the greater those profits and productivity numbers.   
We all know the realities that those H1B workers face.  If the boss  
says to work 50 or 60 hours for 75% of the normal salary, you do it  
or you could be back in the homeland, right quick.  Am I  
exaggerating?  I don’t think so, because there could be no other  
reason for those H1B visas being applied for when hundreds of  
thousands of American programmers were out of work between 2001-2003.

Additionally, many of these high tech H1B workers become steeped in  
the corporate culture here in America.  Some of them are purposely  
groomed by corporations to go back and open outsourcing firms.   
Computers run everything so once you have IT staff steeped in the  
corporate culture running outsourcing firms; every single job under  
the sun is vulnerable to outsourcing.  I understand the needs of free  
markets, but I do not think it is fair to accelerate the pace of  
globalization on the backs of America’s middle class taxpayers.

I cannot express my dismay at the Congress now raising the visa limit  
just when the job market has finally recovered a little.  The  
Congress is putting Americans out of work and this is very, very  
unfair.  I am very, very worried.  This would not be the first time  
that the government put me out of business and threatened my family  
with the poor house.  I am no stranger to being legislated into poverty.

Back in 1993, there was this great cry from the masses that somehow  
cable companies were charging too much for remote controls and  
converters, etc.  My opinion was that if you did not want to pay  
$5.00 for a remote then get up and change the channel, but that is  
another argument entirely, since now they do not even give you the  
ability to type in a specific channel on the converter boxes.   
Anyway, I guess the Democrats saw it as an opportunity to appease the  
masses and stay in power, so they passed a massive cable rate  
regulation bill.

Unfortunately for me, I did data conversions for a cable billing  
company.  I had lined up contracts for conversions well into the  
future, but overnight they all canceled.  Nobody wants to go through  
a data conversion of his or her billing system and rates to a new  
computerized system in the midst of a massive rate change like that.   
Overnight I was out of business.  I became a hardcore Libertarian at  
that point.  I mean it is hard enough to make a living to feed your  
family and pay your mortgage without the federal government in  
Washington, DC legislating your business into oblivion.

The Skill Bill will spell disaster for many middle class  
families.     I have no choice, but to make as much noise about this  
one as I possibly can.  It is a pocketbook issue of the first magnitude!

I just got done reading about how you have vowed to fight for the  
middle class.  Well here is your chance!  Kill the Skill Bill!

Yours very truly,

Anthony Watson

[email protected]