On the recordSeptember 24, 1998
I have a great degree of compassion. I hear them at every town hall meeting in my district which is a high technology district. But the Smith substitute, I think, cuts the compromise just about right. It realizes that the people who are laid off in categories are different from the categories where the H-1B visas are being hired. They are simply not the same. In high technology terms, the layoffs tend to be in the fabrication side, and the H-1Bs tend to be in the engineering side. That is exactly where we need to be importing, for temporary engineering purposes, that brainpower that might otherwise go to one of our competitor countries.
Source
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