Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Energy and Commerce Committee for giving me an opportunity to, one, speak in support of this bill; and, two, take just a couple of minutes to say what is wrong with this body on one bill that you won't see here today.

Back in January, 2 years ago, H.R. 170, one of the first bills to be dropped, was put into the hopper. It was a bipartisan bill that came from the previous Congress and was dropped on the first day.

H.R. 170 would reform, after more than two decades, the H1B immigration system, which is broken. Today, more people come in under H1B who are not necessary, not qualified, and not, in fact, in short supply any more than any other nanny, housekeeper, or person just to do basic work. The system has been hijacked because it has not been reformed. More than two decades ago, exemptions were placed in if you paid $60,000.

Mr. Speaker, $60,000 was a lot of money in the 1990s, probably not enough for the highest high-tech worker, but pretty good for a brand- new graduate with a master's degree in the STEM field.

Today, we find ourselves, again and again and again, seeing stories about organizations like the University of California-San Francisco, Abbott Labs, and Southern California Edison that hire people who come from other countries, almost exclusively from India, and take away American jobs.

We see time and time again the Americans having to train them, because they don't actually know how to do the jobs. And, yes, they are making $60,001.

This needed to be fixed, and I commend the members of the Judiciary Committee, both majority and minority, because we worked together on a bipartisan bill and passed it unanimously nearly a year ago. And for a year, we asked for a suspension vote.

In these last days, perhaps the last day that I will stand on the floor, I have watched more than 20 bills come across. Some of them are pretty important and noncontroversial; some of them are postal namings and room namings.

The fact is that House leadership on my side of the aisle is responsible for holding back a bill that was needed, that the President would have gladly signed, that he even spoke about to the tech community while he was running for office, that was worked out in a situation in which many companies weren't thrilled with the reform, but they knew it was needed.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to vote for the bill that is before us, but H.R. 170 will not see the light of day from my Republican colleagues. Rather, I will call on the new Democratic majority to do what Republicans were not allowed to do. Let there be no doubt: It would have passed overwhelmingly, perhaps unanimously, on the floor.

But if it is not brought up by a new Member and brought to the floor in the first few days, we as a body will be further diminished for having something we know is needed, having something we know was desired and worked out, and, because of some silent force, my own House majority, some Member or Members of the leadership, managed to spike it.

I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, as my last words on the House floor, to be told by each and every member of the leadership, including the whip, the leader, and the Speaker, that they have no problem with this bill, and they know of no reason not to bring it up, to watch it not be brought up and each week be told maybe it will be there next week under suspension, I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, this is what I will remember as our least fine hour, an example of why Americans don't trust Congress. Because, even when we agree on something, virtually unanimously, often a silent force manages to keep something that is noncontroversial from happening.

Mr. Speaker, as I yield back for the last time in my time on the Hill, I want to tell you that it has been a great honor to serve here. It has been the greatest honor of my life.

I wish I could go out not saying to my Democratic colleagues, the new majority: Do in the next Congress H1-B reform, that which you agreed to and which my side failed to do.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I thank the leadership.

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