Response from: Matt    (07/11/07 4:41pm)

It is incorrect to say that businesses liked the Senate bill and it is incorrect to say that the bill would have allowed businesses to get top notch smart labor at cheaper rates. Executives from Microsoft, Google, Oracle, etc., tried to get the Senate to amend the bill so that they would like it, so that it would have had provisions to benefit the US and American business.

The major, pro-business component of the bill was the proposal to increase the number of H1B visas for professionals. That visa is only available to employers who offer a wage at least equal to or greater than the weighted average wage paid for that occupation in the same area. Hardly cheap labor, since that means at least 50% of similar workers in the US are getting paid less.

And the Senate bill would have increased by more than 50% the government filing fee that employers must pay.

Business may still want to see immigration reform, but no one should be dismayed that this particular Senate bill seems DOA.