Darrell Issa: “I want to thank the Energy and Commerce Committee for giving me an opportunity to, one, speak in support of this bill…”

“I want to thank the Energy and Commerce Committee for giving me an opportunity to, one, speak in support of this bill; and, two, take just a couple of minutes to say what is wrong with this body on one bill that you won't see here today. Back in January, 2 years ago, H.R. 170, one of the first bills to be dropped, was put into the hopper. It was a bipartisan bill that came from the previous Congress and was dropped on the first day. H.R. 170 would reform, after more than two decades, the H1B immigration system, which is broken. Today, more people come in under H1B who are not necessary, not qualified, and not, in fact, in short supply any more than any other nanny, housekeeper, or person just to do basic work. The system has been hijacked because it has not been reformed. More than two decades ago, exemptions were placed in if you paid $60,000. {time} 1115 Mr. Speaker, $60,000 was a lot of money in the 1990s, probably not enough for the highest high-tech worker, but pretty good for a brand- new graduate with a master's degree in the STEM field. Today, we find ourselves, again and again and again, seeing stories about organizations like the University of California-San Francisco, Abbott Labs, and Southern California Edison that hire people who come from other countries, almost exclusively from India, and take away American jobs. We see time and time again the Americans having to train them, because they don't actually know how to do the jobs.…”