American People Still Have a Voice on Capitol Hill!

Senate Leadership Removes Mikulski H-2B Amendment! American People Still Have a Voice on Capitol Hill! FAIR has received confirmation from Senate Republican Leadership that the Mikulski H-2B Amendment was been stripped from the Iraq War Funding Bill on the Senate floor this afternoon. Thanks to all our members, activists, and friends who called – and kept calling – until our voices were heard! The H-2B amendment was added to the War Funding Bill last week by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) as the bill traveled through the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The amendment reinstated for three years the returning worker exemption to the H-2B unskilled guest worker program which expired last year. Under the exemption, an alien who worked in the U.S. during the past three years under the H-2B program can return to the U.S. to work without counting towards the 66,000 cap. This exemption would have led to ever-growing numbers of unskilled H-2B guest workers entering the U.S. each year—increasing the number by hundreds of thousands!   The amendment was not only designed to appease special corporate interests addicted to cheap foreign labor, it defied common sense in the face of the struggling U.S. economy which has seen tens of thousands of workers lose their jobs over the past few months. However, your determination to make Congress hear the will of the American people made the difference! Thank you! But even with this important victory, please remember that some sources are reporting that President Bush may veto the Iraq War Funding Bill. If that happens, another funding bill will likely come to the Senate floor and this kind of “must-pass” bill would be an attractive target for Senators seeking to attach special-interest amendments. Please stay tuned to FAIR for all the latest information from Capitol Hill…   To receive more information from FAIR, click here. To join or donate to FAIR, click here.

FAIR “Action Alert”….3 Down & 1 to go!

Three Down, One to Go! Keep the Calls Coming! Last night, Democratic Leadership partially capitulated and agreed to strip three of the four immigration amendments from the Iraq War Funding Bill that is on the Senate floor this week. The move came when Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made a point of order under Senate Rule 16, which prohibits legislating policy on an appropriations bill. The parliamentarian agreed, and stripped the following amendments: The AgJobs Amendment that would have granted amnesty to 1.35 million agricultural workers and their families; The Murray-Gregg Amendment that would have made approximately 218,000 more green cards available for multinational executives and so-called “highly skilled workers” by “recapturing” visas from as far back as 1994; and The Leahy Amendment that would have extended for 5-years a program that helps wealthy investors get green cards. However, Senate sources tell us that the Mikulski H-2B amendment – an amendment that could lead to hundreds of thousands of new unskilled H-2B guest workers flooding the labor market in only a few years – is still in the Iraq War Funding Bill. This is because the Iraq War Funding Bill is being considered in two parts and point of order raised by Senator Menendez only applied to the first part. The H-2B provision is in the second. Please keep calling your Senators until Democratic Leadership strips this final special-interest immigration amendment from the Iraq War Funding Bill! Tell them that you oppose importing tens of thousands of new unskilled (H-2B) guest workers to appease corporate interests—and especially when the economy is struggling. We heard throughout the day that your calls put intense pressure on Senators across the country. One staffer told us that the phones were “lighting up like a Christmas tree.” Please help us make sure Congress looks out for the American people and not special interests.   To find your Senators’ phone numbers, click here. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) DC Office (202) 224-3542 District Office (702) 388-5020 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) DC Office (202) 224-2541 District Office (502) 582-6304