Darrell Issa Continues to Fail U.S. Workers

By John Miano on September 17, 2016

Last week I wrote about Rep. Darrell Issa's do-nothing "reform" bill for the H-1B program. The purpose of Issa's bill is to head off other bills (such as those from Sen. Sessions and Sen. Grassley) that would fix some of the problems in H-1B. It is no wonder that Issa's bill has the support of industry groups.

Yesterday there was a markup session for Issa's do-nothing bill in the House immigration subcommittee, where the bill ended up being pulled.

Oddly, the reported hang-up was that the bill would have changed the wage threshold in the non-displacement provisions in 8 U.S.C. ยง 1182(n)(3)(B) from

receives wages (including cash bonuses and similar compensation) at an annual rate equal to at least $60,000

              to

receives wages (including cash bonuses) at an annual rate equal to at least the greater of $100,000

The "(including cash bonuses)" part, even though it has existed previously, was perceived as a loophole. I find the focus here strange because Issa's bill could have said

receives wages at an annual rate equal to at least the greater of $1,000,000

               or even

receives wages at an annual rate equal to at least the greater of $50,000,000


and it would still have had no effect because replacing Americans would still be prohibited only within 90 days of making the visa petition.

The voters need to realize that Congress has gone to a lot of trouble to make it lawful for employers to replace Americans with H-1B guestworkers and Rep. Issa has gone through a lot of effort to ensure the law stays that way.