Senators strike deal on visas

With compromise, panel approves immigration bill 13-5

WASHINGTON - Sen. Orrin Hatch reached an agreement with Democrats on changes to a high-skilled visa program, clearing an impediment to Republican support for legislation revising U.S. immigration law.

The Judiciary Committee, in its fifth day of considering amendments, cleared the immigration bill Tuesday evening in a 13-5 vote.

“There were several things that he proposed that were absolutely unacceptable; we tried to find those things that were acceptable and to build upon them, and I think we’ve reached a reasonable compromise,” said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat and a co-author of the immigration proposal.

The agreement with Hatch changes the formula for calculating the number of visas for foreign technology workers while keeping the bill’s limit of 180,000 a year. It would lift a requirement that companies look for a U.S. worker before hiring a foreign visa holder for all companies except those whose work forces are more than 15 percent foreign.

“If a firm has more than 15 percent foreign employees, there are going to be more rigorous standards in terms of recruitment and making these jobs available to Americans,” said Durbin. He pushed for protections for U.S. workers to be included in the original Senate plan.

The Senate bill seeks to balance a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S., sought by Democrats, with enough border-security improvements to satisfy Republicans. It was written by a group of four Republican and four Democratic senators.

Durbin, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and other authors of the Senate immigration bill have been courting Hatch’s vote. Hatch had said he would oppose the measure unless Democrats agreed to his amendments favoring technology companies that seek to hire more high skilled foreign workers.

The agreement reached Tuesday includes Hatch’s proposal to require employers to show that a U.S. worker wasn’t available only when they initially hire a foreign employee, not with each visa extension.

In a statement, President Barack Obama said the measure is “largely consistent with the principles of common-sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system.”

Unions led by the AFL-CIO labor federation said technology companies are trying to undermine job security and opportunities for U.S. workers.

“We do not expect their endorsement of this, but we at least have worked with them and respected their input and have tried to reach an agreement that is close to the values they bring to the table,” Durbin said, referring to labor organizations.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman and a Vermont Democrat, sparked a debate over his proposal to give same-sex and heterosexual spouses equal rights under the immigration law.

The White House and Senate Democrats had askedLeahy not to force a vote on the issue, warning would lead to the collapse of Republican support and the bill’s demise. He withdrew the amendment after Democrats and Republicans on the Senate panel unanimously spoke against it.

The Judiciary Committee has adopted about 100 amendments. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. has said he wants to take the measure to the full Senate “as soon as it’s ready,” probably in early June.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that he was “hopeful” the Senate could pass immigration legislation, adding that Republican senators share “a view the status quo is not good.”

The Senate bill would initially raise the annual H-1B visa limit for high-skilled foreign workers to 135,000 from 85,000.Caps in future years could increase to 180,000, depending on economic conditions.

The bill also would require companies to recruit U.S. workers before hiring foreign ones. Technology companies say that invites bureaucratic scrutiny by the government and lawsuits from U.S. workers.

While Hatch may support the bill in the Judiciary Committee, he has made clear it will take more than a deal on high-skilled visas to win his backing when the measure is considered by the full Senate.

For his vote then, Hatch said lawmakers must agree to his proposed changes regarding the taxes foreigners must pay and social benefits they receive.

“They’re going to have to resolve those conflicts for me, or I will have to vote against the bill on the floor,” Hatch said.

Information for this article was contributed by Roxana Tiron, James Rowley, Kathleen Hunter, Jodi Schneider and Heidi Przybyla of Bloomberg News and by David Espo, Erica Werner and Julie Pace of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 05/22/2013

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