John Cornyn: “where we have come from since yesterday afternoon is, we had a basic bill that provided no protection for American…”

“where we have come from since yesterday afternoon is, we had a basic bill that provided no protection for American workers because it allowed foreign workers to self-petition without a job, without any type of certification there were no Americans available to fill the job, and we then adopted an amendment that would install some worker protections by requiring both of those things: that, No. 1, there is a job available; and, No. 2, there are not sufficient Americans to fill that type of job. Now, under the amendment of the Senator from Massachusetts, we have gone from no worker protection to what I would call illusory worker protection--illusory worker protection--because this puts the decision to define the job requirements in the hands of the foreign worker. It also puts in the hands of the foreign worker--the self-interested individual, by the way, who is going to be staying or leaving depending on whether they meet these requirements--it puts in that foreign worker's hands the total and unilateral determination of what the job requirements are and, No. 2, whether that same foreign worker meets those job requirements; whereas, for everyone else in America, it is the employer who determines whether the prospective employee meets the job requirements. The last thing I would say is, for every other category of visa, worker visa in America, under our naturalization and immigration system, there has to be some form of employer sponsorship.…”