November 3, 2005

Byrd Amendment Defeated

Senator Byrd offered an amendment today to remove the H-1B and immigrant visa retrogression provisions passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee from the Budget Reconciliation Package. With 85 “NO” votes and 14 “YES” votes, Sen. Byrd’s amendment was defeated. The senator’s amendment had unsuccessfully sought to reverse any action by the Senate Judiciary committee to recapture 30,000 unused H-1B numbers from the last ten years that Congress previously authorized as well of the recapture of approximately 90,000 unused Employment Based (EB) numbers from 2001-04. This would have meant eliminating revenue of $45 million per year , including money earmarked for technical skill s training for U.S. workers. The bill now goes to "conference" (reconciliation) with a House version that does not contain the provision. GT will continue to provide updates as the bill goes to conference.