Mike Levin: “the Senate has now approved an increase in the total number of H-1B nonimmigrant visas made available to skilled foreign…”

“the Senate has now approved an increase in the total number of H-1B nonimmigrant visas made available to skilled foreign workers. I supported that increase because I believe it will help meet this country's growing demand for people with high skills, particularly in fast growing industries such as the high technology industry. However, I want to make clear that I understand this bill to be a short-term fix for the needs of our economy and not a long-term solution. If Congress is going to deal with the workforce needs in this country we can not simply rely on the H-1B program. The national skill shortage problem must be resolved by expanding training programs for American workers and increasing educational opportunities for our young people. Section 10 of this bill provides significant new resources for funding new innovative activities in K-12 math and science across the nation. It also represents a major boost beyond what was provided in the H-1B legislation in 1998. Under the 1998 H-1B bill, the amount of funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) K-12 activities was fairly small--less than $6 million in FY 2000. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Feinstein and Senator Kennedy, this legislation would more than double that amount to $15 million. We can make further progress in our education and training needs by increasing the fee that sponsors pay for H-1B visas.”