India Junket Revisited
India Junket Revisited
Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 2:41 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
April 28, 2004 - No. 995
There is a problem with the very beginning of this article. Members of
the Congressional India Caucus are pro-India labor, not pro-American
labor. Perhaps the journalist made the erroneous assumption that
Democrats usually cater to the interests American wage earners.
Nine congressmen, mainly pro-labor Democrats from California,
New York and Georgia, took the all-expenses paid trip to India
in January.
This junket to India was paid for by taxpayers to the tune of $165,000.
As reported in earlier newsletters, but not in this article, these
Congressional betrayers of the American worker pledge their support for
outsourcing and the continuance of H-1B and L-1. They assured CII and
NASSCOM that they will fight all attempts to limit outsourcing and
nonimmigrant visas such as H-1B and L-1. Taxpayers shouldn't be forced
to bankroll this blatant debauchery but it was A-OK with the ethics
committee:
Chris McCannell, Crowley's chief of staff and one of three aides
who accompanied legislators, emphasized that the U.S. House of
Representatives' Ethics Committee approved the trip.
The Marie Antoinette award for this article has to go to Rep. Linda
Sanchez from California. Linda Sanchez is not related to my family and
even if she was I would disown her. She is mislabeled as pro-labor
because she used to be an officer in the AFL-CIO.
"Nobody was cooling us with palm fronds and peeling us
grapes," Sanchez said.
Following this article is the text of the India Caucus by-laws. As you
can see, their mission is to advocate for the interests of India, not
the United States. This might be the first time these by-laws have ever
been viewed by the public, thanks to a hard-working activist that sent
me a copy.
I did research on dozens of Congressional Caucuses and couldn't find a
single one that represents American citizens. Some people might naively
believe that elected members of Congress should be beholden to the
voters that put them into office, but in real-world politics they
represent those who give them them most campaign money. Until we have
an America Caucus that pledges their support for this nation as their
#1 priority there is no way to guarantee that politicians will
represent "we the people".
To find out more about the India Junket, search the newsletter archives
by inserting "India AND Caucus" in a new search engine I just put
online that only searches the newsletter directories:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm
(click the "Search the Archive" link near the top)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040427/ap_on_bi_ge/congress_offshoring_2
Congressional Trip to India Riles Workers
Tue Apr 27, 6:36 PM ET Add Business - AP to My Yahoo!
By RACHEL KONRAD, AP Business Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. - American technology workers riled by a congressional
delegation's $165,000 trip to India say it amounted to little more than
a junket promoting offshore outsourcing.
Nine congressmen, mainly pro-labor Democrats from California, New York
and Georgia, took the all-expenses paid trip to India in January. Most
took along spouses or legislative aides, and some individual tabs
exceeded $10,000.
The Confederation of Indian Industries, a trade group that helps craft
India's economic policies and fosters relationships between American
and Indian companies, paid for hotels, meals and transportation. CII
members include India's pro-outsourcing trade group National
Association of Software and Services Companies, and consulting firms
that have gained tens of thousands of jobs from U.S. corporations eager
to send work to low-wage engineers in India, China and Russia.
During the seven-day trip, New Delhi-based CII organized meetings
between high-level politicians from India and the United States.
Discussion topics included India's alarming rise in HIV (news - web
sites) infection, its lack of military participation in Iraq (news -
web sites) and the increasingly touchy subjects of offshoring and
trade.
The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a Seattle-based group
trying to unionize white-collar tech workers, complained about the trip
and said it would publish details from the lawmakers' travel
disclosures on the Internet this week.
"This is why everyday Americans grow cynical about how business is
done," said WashTech organizer Marcus Courtney. "They're tired of
seeing politicians say they're concerned, then turn around and take a
hop a plane and take tens of thousands of dollars from a group that
puts Americans' jobs at risk."
Members of the delegation denied allegations that the trip was a lavish
junket. Several legislators " including Reps. Joe Crowley and Steve
Israel of New York, and Reps. Linda Sanchez and Barbara Lee of
California " are long-standing advocates of labor.
Sanchez, formerly an executive secretary-treasurer for the AFL-CIO,
acknowledged that they flew business class but said the trip was hardly
posh. Sanchez and her husband's bill came to $17,338.94.
A three-hour climate-controlled bus ride from New Delhi to Agra, home
of the Taj Mahal, turned into a six-hour slog in near-freezing
temperatures, Sanchez and others noted.
"Nobody was cooling us with palm fronds and peeling us grapes," Sanchez
said.
Chris McCannell, Crowley's chief of staff and one of three aides who
accompanied legislators, emphasized that the U.S. House of
Representatives' Ethics Committee approved the trip. Crowley, who voted
for a recent appropriations bill that included a ban on offshoring
government contracts, accepted the CII gift at the urging of New York
City constituents, McCannell said. About 45,000 residents of South
Asian descent live in his district.
"There's a reason so many legislators from New York and California were
on this trip," McCannell said. "Our constituents wanted their
congressman to see India, warts and all."
CII senior director Kiran Pasricha said the January trip differed
little from those she's organized since 1995. The latest delegation
attracted attention from anti-outsourcing groups simply because the
issue had become presidential campaign fodder in an election year in
both India and the United States, she said.
"We simply want legislators to understand that India is no longer a
country of snake charmers and sweatshops and cheap labor," Pasricha
said. "Of course outsourcing is an issue that came up " but not one
we're losing our sleep over. ... India's relationship with the U.S. is
not centered around the outsourcing issue."
A spokesman for Rep. Jim Marshall said the Georgia Democrat attended
with his spouse to encourage Indian politicians to send troops and aid
to the U.S. reconstruction of Iraq.
"Jim Marshall is still absolutely against outsourcing and has voted
against every free trade act that's come up in Congress," said
spokesman Doug Moore. "Whenever outsourcing came up in India, he'd
argue the other side with the Indians."
Regardless of legislators' intent, many U.S. workers said, the debate
over outsourcing lends an air of impropriety to the delegation. Eight
states introduced bills last year to ban the use of taxpayer money on
contracts with foreign workers, and at least as many states are
expected to consider similar bills this year.
"Going on such a trip will obviously sway their decision ... at least
until a group of tech professionals or laborers sponsors an
all-expenses-paid trip for the congressmen to an exotic nation," said
Jim Frasch, 25, a network administrator from West Caldwell, N.J. "The
only education that politicians should get on outsourcing is how much
it negatively affects our economy by putting people out of work. How it
affects other countries shouldn't matter at all " it's not the other
countries that put them in office."
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND CAUCUS BY-LAWS
I. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans shall be a
bi-partisan organization of Members of the United States Congress. Its
goals shall be to:
(1) advocate the interests of the more than one million Americans in
the United States who were born in India or are of Indian ancestry,
and;
(2) promote and strengthen relations between the United States, the
world's oldest democracy, and India, the world's largest democracy.
II. ELECTION AND DUTIES OF THE CO-CHAIRS
The Caucus shall have two Co-Chairs, one Republican and one Democrat.
The Co-Chairs shall serve for a period of two years, starting at the
end of a Congress. A Co-Chair may not succeed himself or herself for a
second Congress, and shall not be eligible to serve as Co-Chair for a
period of at least four years from the date the Member last served as
Co-Chair. The Co-Chairs shall have the authority to call meetings,
schedule speakers and provide general organizational support for the
Caucus. However, the Co-Chairs are expected to consult regularly with
the Caucus and keep the Members of the Caucus informed of their
activities. Election of the Co-Chairs shall be by motion by an
existing Member of the Caucus at a meeting held at the end of a
Congress. Election shall be by a simple majority of those Caucus
Members present and voting.
III. ELECTION AND DUTIES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Caucus shall have an Executive Committee of eight Members, four
Republicans and four Democrats. Members of the Executive Committee
shall be nominated by a Member of the Caucus and shall be elected by a
simple majority of the Caucus Members present. A Member may serve as a
Member of the Executive Committee for no more than four successive
Congresses.
IV. APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO HEAD TASK FORCES
The Caucus Co-Chairs shall appoint Members of the Caucus to serve as
head of various Task Forces. These Task Forces will allow more Caucus
Members to assume visible leadership roles in the Caucus.
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