Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have introduced the American Jobs First Act, S.2394, that would make dramatic improvements to the H-1B visa program, including the establishment of a minimum salary and the creation of a cooling off period that would prevent employers from using the program within two years of employee strikes, lay-offs, furloughs, or other types of non-voluntary, not-for-cause dismissals. The legislation would also end the visa lottery.
"The American Jobs First Act of 2015 is a necessary effort to repair the H-1B visa program to prevent it from displacing American workers," Sen. Cruz said. "This legislation aligns the program with its original intent, does more to prevent employers from using the program to replace hard-working American men and women with cheaper foreign labor, and helps to create greater transparency of job needs and opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, so that unemployed Americans with the necessary skills can apply for these jobs. It is my hope that the American Jobs First Act of 2015 becomes part of a broader congressional effort to make immigration work for the American people again."
"The mass layoff of American workers at Disney, Southern California Edison, and many other companies – who were then forced to train their foreign replacements – underscores that our political system has failed in its duty to protect our own people," said Sen. Sessions. "The H-1B program is nowhere close to the program it is said to be. Far from filling 'labor shortages', it is being used to destroy existing jobs of American workers."
The Cruz-Sessions bill would:
- Require H-1B employers who seek H-1B visas under the program to commit to paying the foreign workers they recruit either what an American worker who did identical or similar work made two years prior to the recruiting effort, or $110,000 (whichever is higher).
- Establish a "layoff cool-off" period of two years (730 days), which would prevent an employer from bringing on an H-1B visa-based foreign worker within two years of an employee strike, an employer lockout, layoffs, furloughs, or other types of involuntary employee terminations other than for-cause dismissals.
- Strengthen internal (company) and external (public domain) transparency requirements, in order to ensure that both company employees and the job-seeking public are aware of the company’s H-1B visa application and potential job opportunities at the company.
- Require increased H-1B visa application transparency on the part of the Department of Labor, with real-time online updating of companies’ H-1B visa application submissions, the publication of certain application information (including the identities of the companies and employees who have submitted the applications), and additional reporting to Congress about program abusers.
- Prevent continued use of the non-statute-based Optional Practical Training (OPT) Program, and the creation and use of other similar programs, which have also been used to displace American workers under the guise of student training.
- End the Visa Lottery that randomly issues 55,000 green cards per year to foreign citizens without consideration of skills, educational attainment, or the national interest.
You can read more details of the legislation here.
By introducing the legislation, Sen. Cruz, who is also running for the Republican nomination for President, is attempting to differentiate himself from Sen. Marco Rubio who has cosponsored legislation that would increase the number of H-1B visas issued each year without offering any protections for American workers.
Earlier in the week, Sen. Sessions also cosponsored a bipartisan H-1B bill, S.2365, Protecting American Jobs Act, offered by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) that would reduce the cap for H-1B visas and require that visas be issued based on the highest salary first should the number of applications exceed the cap.
