A final, desperate -- and doomed -- push for H-1B restrictions [View all]

[markiv]

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- The Senate is expected to vote next week on an immigration bill, and it is likely to pass after one last fight to give U.S. workers hiring preference over foreigners with H-1B visas.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are backing a proposed amendment to the immigration bill that would require employers to "first offer a vacant position to an equally or better qualified American worker" before filling the job with an H-1B worker.

This lack of preference in the current bill is sore point with Grassley.

The Senate immigration bill, as initially drafted by a bipartisan group of senators, the so called "gang of eight," included U.S. worker preference in hiring. The tech industry opposed it, and worked with an ally, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), to get the clause removed.

(Al Franken voted against those protections, but said he might help'tweak it down the read' - wouldnt this be the time to start tweaking? Dont see his name mentioned anywhere in this article

see this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022846502)