Bill Gates returns to DC for new H-1B lobbying campaign

Date: Monday, March 03, 2008 6:16 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1827 -- 3/03/2008 >>>>>

Bill Gates made several trips last year to Washington DC to lobby for an H-1B
increase as well as expanded green card programs for foreign graduate
students. So far he has failed to get what he wanted but late last year he
vowed to come back and win. Gates just announced he is returning, and you can
bet he will be more determined than ever to score a victory.

The Gates lobbying trip is part of a huge new campaign to increase the H-1B
cap. Look for more info in the next newsletter.

Just to illustrate the immense influence Bill Gates is having on the H-1B
debate I made a rough transcript of an interview between House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Charlie Rose on 2/28.2008 which you can see by going to this link
at this time (21:30)

http://www.charlierose.com/guests/nancy-pelosi

ROSE: Nothing concerns Bill Gates more than that [immigration].

REP. PELOSI: He is always talking to us about that. The solution is simple, we
could just staple a green card to their [foreign students] diploma.
Increasing H-1B visas is controversial, but we want those students to stay
here.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9066460

Gates to appear again before Congress on eve of H-1B visa rush

Patrick Thibodeau

March 03, 2008 (Computerworld) Next week, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates

will testify before the House Committee on Science and Technology at a hearing
"on the future of innovation and U.S. competitiveness," at which he likely
will renew his appeal for more foreign workers to be allowed into the country.

The topic of the hearing is familiar ground for Gates on Capitol Hill. But
what makes his scheduled appearance on March 12 potentially explosive is its
timing, less than three weeks before the start of the annual application rush
for H-1B visas.

April 1 is the first day that U.S. immigration authorities will begin
accepting H-1B applications for the federal government's 2009 fiscal year,
which begins in October. Last year, the government stopped taking applications
after receiving about 150,000 in a single day -- far more than enough to
exhaust the annual cap of 65,000 regular visas and 20,000 set aside for
foreign nationals who have advanced degrees from U.S.
universities.

Last month, Gates called the H-1B program "a disaster," in response to a
question about immigration during a talk he gave at the University of Waterloo
in Ontario. "If I could just change one law in the U.S., it would be this,"
Gates said. An excerpt featuring that comment has been posted on YouTube, and
a video of the full speech can be viewed on the university's Web site.

Gates testified last March before the Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions, warning that the U.S. was risking its global leadership
role because of insufficient investments in research and education, as well as
the problems that companies face in hiring foreign workers.

In his written testimony, Gates predicted -- accurately -- that for the first
time in the history of the H-1B program, the supply of visas would run out
before students graduating from college received their degrees.
"This means that U.S. employers will not be able to get H-1B visas for an
entire crop of U.S. graduates," he wrote. "We are essentially asking top
talent to leave the U.S."

It remains to be seen how well Gates' message on immigration will play this
year, amid slowing economic growth and rising unemployment.

But Robert Hoffman, an Oracle Corp. executive who is co-chairman of Compete
America, a Washington-based group that lobbies for immigration reform, said
that the demand for H-1B workers among U.S. companies continues unabated.
"The expectation is that you are going to see an even bigger flood of
applications than what we saw last year," he said.

Asked about the slowing economy, Hoffman said, "If you want to talk about not
helping the economy -- if there is a job opening that is going unfilled in
this economy and that we are prepared to fill, we should fill it because that
is a person contributing to the economy."

The political pressure to raise the H-1B cap, or to shrink it, also is
ongoing, but people on both sides of the issue are cautious about predicting
that any legislation will find its way out of Congress during an election
year.

"I'm not at all convinced that we've won the battle for this year," said Roy
Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, an immigration advocacy group that
opposes efforts to increase the H-1B cap. But Beck added that he thinks the
Arlington, Va.-based group has helped to create "enough counterweight" to
challenge the cap-increase proposals.

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