Musings of a Real Texas Cowgirl

This blog contains the thoughts of a real Texas cowgirl. They may pertain to politics, religion, or life in general. If anything herein offends you, please go to another blog. If you disagree with anything herein, kindly use facts and intelligent argument. Anyone making personal attacks against Cowgirl or any commenter will be banned.

Friday, December 08, 2006

URGENT! IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!!

This is an urgent call to action from Numbers USA.

YOU'VE STOPPED EVERY OTHER IMMIGRATION DISASTER THIS YEAR ...

... NOW STOP THIS LAST ATTEMPT BEFORE CONGRESS GOES HOME

This is an urgent request to phone your U.S. Senators today and give them this message:

"Do NOT entertain debate on Sen. Cornyn's H-1B bill. Oppose all increases in H-1B visas."

As you may already know, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is trying to ram through provisions to radically increase visas for foreign workers in the tech, nursing, physical therapy, science and engineering fields.

The only way to defeat this last-minute desperation attempt by high-tech Robber Barons to keep wages low is if Senate offices are stunned today by the public outcry against this disreputable maneuver.

A swarm of Microsoft lobbyists -- surely reeking of musty giant wads of campaign contributions -- buzzed and stung their way through Senate offices Wednesday, demanding that they and others of their ilk be given hundreds of thousands more foreign workers next year.

Tell your Senators to NOT let Sen. Cornyn's bill come up on the floor for any kind of discussion.

BACKGROUND:

Americans had been assured that the clock had already run out on this kind of trick play. Congress was supposed to be in session this week just to pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the federal government funded.


But high tech's lobbyists -- desperate to continue to hold down their industries wages with foreign labor -- have stopped the legislative clock.


A team of Microsoft blockers, tackles and fleet-footed lobbyists (10 of them!) roamed the Senate hallways Wednesday looking for a way to score on their usual last-minute, rule-breaking, end-of-Congress style.


Many times in recent years, Microsoft and other tech lobbyists have managed to sneak major H-1B increases into legislation just as Con gress was leaving town.


Since being publicly embarrassed in the late 1990s by debating the merits of this kind of legislation publicly, Congress has declined to pass these H-1B visa increases in the light of day (i.e., with standard debate and usual voting procedures).


But nearly all Hill staffers we've spoken with told us they had received assurances from congressional leaders that no such tactics would be forthcoming this year.


On Tuesday, Senate staffers were stunned to see Sen. Cornyn suddenly emerge as the person willing to bring shame on himself by carrying the Robber Barons' water and force his pet project ahead of all others.


We sent an email to all our members last Friday, asking for steady pressure on Senators to make sure they knew public sentiment in case something like this happened.


Then, Tuesday afternoon, we got word that Sen. Cornyn was trying to ram his bill onto the Senate floor. We went to our members in states whose Senators often fight for American workers against foreign labor importation. We stirred up a flurry of phone calls.


We were pleased that, by late Tuesday, many of those Senators had placed "holds" on Sen. Cornyn's bill. Nevertheless, those holds tend to only slow the process down for a while and can be lifted if Senate leadership so chooses. The word we had late Wednesday was that the "holds" were breaking as Microsoft's lobbyists gathered more support.

Go here for contact information for your Senators and Congressmen. Fax 'em, email 'em, and phone 'em today!! Thanx so much, Cowgirl

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