Jeff Bingaman: “The amendment is aimed at addressing what I believe is a very shortsighted provision in this draft immigration bill. My…”

“The amendment is aimed at addressing what I believe is a very shortsighted provision in this draft immigration bill. My amendment applies only to this new guest worker program we are creating under the bill, the so-called Y-1 program. Under this immigration bill as it now stands, Y-1 workers--guest workers, which is how we refer to them--would be able to work in the United States for three 2-year work periods. But before they could renew their visas for the second and the third of those 2-year work periods, they would have to leave the country for at least a year. This is the so-called 2-1-2-1-2 provision. The amendment I have offered, and that we will be voting on in a few minutes, simply removes the requirement these guest workers leave the country before they renew their visas.”