Dianne Feinstein: “very shortly, Senator Kennedy, the ranking member of the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, will be…”

“very shortly, Senator Kennedy, the ranking member of the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, will be presenting an amendment which I will strongly support. It is very similar to the amendment which was offered in committee, proposed both by the Senator from Massachusetts and myself representing California. I voted for it then, and I will vote for it now. I did in committee also vote for the Abraham bill, because Senator Abraham is correct, there is a problem. The high-tech industry is consistently turning to foreign nationals to fill low-level computer-related jobs. In my State of California, this is a very big deal. High tech currently provides about 814,000 jobs in California. That is 18½ percent of the total California employment. So it is a substantial industry. When this industry says to their Senator, 'We can't hire high school or college graduates to fill our needs,' I obviously have to be very concerned. I have become very saddened by our high-tech CEOs who repeatedly tell me they cannot find qualified workers.”