Letter to the Hon. Charles Schumer Majority Leader, Hon. Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House, Hon. Mitch McConnell Minority Leader, Hon. Kevin McCarthy Republican Leader - Prioritize Americans Over Chinese Workers

Letter

Dear Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy:

As the House and Senate prepare to reconcile the differences between H.R. 4521,
America COMPETES Act of 2022, and S. 1260, the United States Innovation and Competition
Act of 2021, we urge you to remove controversial immigration provisions that will harm
American workers, our national security, and our global standing. At a time when our
immigration system is overwhelmed and in need of desperate reform, we should not add fuel to
the fire by supporting legislation to exacerbate the ongoing crisis.

Instead of increasing competitiveness with China by improving American STEM
education and prioritizing domestic workers, the COMPETES Act focuses on importing foreign
workers to take American jobs. Included in the legislation is a "green card giveaway" that sets no
limits on the number of foreign nationals, who may take advantage of the program, nor does it
establish a minimum standard for the skills of those foreign nationals or protections for
American workers. The very broad definition in the bill would prioritize a wide variety of
foreign graduates, including chemists, doctors, engineers, statisticians, accountants, tax experts,
software developers, and computer security experts, to the detriment of American jobseekers.
Even more alarming, Big Tech companies who championed this provision are already planning
for over 100,000 foreigners to stay and work permanently in the U.S. Allowing uncapped "highskilled" foreign nationals access to critical sectors of our economy will undoubtedly harm our
competitiveness with China and will lead to continued espionage efforts from foreign
adversaries. Recent reports have highlighted that existing visa programs created to bolster
competitiveness have been overtaken by Russian and Chinese state media to spread
disinformation.

Every day, the current administration's policy failures undermine American
competitiveness to the benefit of China and foreign adversaries. We request you protect
American workers and our national security by removing the immigration provisions from the
final text. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter, and please do not hesitate to
contact us with any questions.

Thank you for your consideration.