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WHAT THE H-1B CAP MIGHT MEAN FOR PENDING LEGISLATION
This week the INS announced that the annual limit on the number of H-1B visas had been reached.  This is the earliest it has ever been reached, more than six months before the end of the fiscal year.  While this situation puts new pressure on high-tech employers, they do have hope that something positive may come out of it – more willingness in Congress to pass legislation that would raise the annual cap.  
According to technology industry groups, the visa shortfall could have a negative impact on the US economy.  The Computer Technology Industry Association says it could cost US businesses .5 billion in lost productivity, and the Information Technology Association says that for every 100,000 jobs that go unfilled,  billion in wages will be lost.  
There are those who disagree, of course.  Unions continue to argue that US workers should be trained to take unfilled jobs. Others are concerned by what they see as an increasing reliance of foreign workers.  Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates limiting immigration, says he is concerned that the reliance on foreign workers will mean that efforts to improve US education are not taken seriously.  He also believes that there is not really a shortage of available US workers, and that the use of foreign workers comes from the computer industry’s desire for low labor costs. 
What does appear to be interesting and possibly quite significant is the absence of the loud and vocal opposition to raising the H-1B cap that occurred during the debate on this subject in 1998. This may be because more and more Americans have a direct stake in the success of the high tech economy via investments in the stock market. It may be because this is a presidential election year and every major candidate (with the exception of Reform candidate Pat Buchanon), is on record supporting the increase. It may be because the Clinton Administration is on record early supporting an increase. The first test of the H-1B issue was a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee which went 16 to 2 in favor of raising the cap. Members of both parties, including many who previously expressed skepticism of raising the cap, voted to lift this year. 
But while there appears to be overwhelming support in Congress to raise the cap, it is very possible that one man may derail the legislative efforts. Powerful House immigration subcommittee chairman Lamar Smith has already launched an offensive that many people believe is designed to kill a visa increase this year. He has introduced a bill that would modestly raise the H-1B cap, but, in turn, would impose draconian new requirements that could all but kill the entire H-1B program. Smith is also said to be interested in a strategy to keep the Lofgren-Dreier bill, the bipartisan bill supported by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and other pro-immigrant groups, from ever coming to a vote. 
H-1B proponents are pursuing a strategy, in turn, of recruiting as many co-sponsors for the Lofgren-Dreier bill in order to force the House leadership to let the bill proceed. 
In any case, time is running out. Many believe that in a presidential year, Congress will become distracted by the election and that very little legislation will be passed once the summer begins.