Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006--Continued

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Gregg amendment. This amendment would literally destroy the diversity visa program and threaten the jobs of American citizens. It would make worse the brain drain which is occurring now, where some of the most talented people from the poorest countries in the world are migrating to the United States.

This morning's New York Times had an important story, a story about how the United States, through this legislation and other efforts, plans to lure nurses from some of the poorest countries on Earth. I visited some of those countries. Senator Brownback of Kansas and I were there just last December, in Democratic Republic of Congo. In the Congo there are only 7 doctors per 100,000. In the Eastern Congo, there is only one doctor per 160,000, and, I was told a surgeon is literally one in a million.

Think of the circumstances from which those doctors and nurses are being drawn to the United States. We can use the talent, that is for sure. But we have to understand that there is a zero sum here. We take the talent from somewhere that needs it desperately.

The diversity visa program which is currently in place is open to people of many talents. They may not have a Ph.D, and they may not have a medical degree. It may just be a very ambitious entrepreneur with a small shop somewhere in the world who is willing to wait in line for a chance to come to the United States and maybe open another shop here, a shop that may grow into a larger business, employ people and make a livelihood for him and his family. That is what the diversity visa program is all about, to provide immigration from people all around the world, those who otherwise might not come to the United States, and to continue to make America the most diverse country in the world. That is a fact which I think is one of our strengths and not one of our weaknesses.

Diversity visas open the door for thousands of people from around the world to come to America. We make 55,000 diversity visas available each year, and the draw of America is such that over 5 million people applied for those 55,000 visas in 2005.

The diversity visa program is the only opportunity to immigrate to the United States for many people from lesser developed countries, especially African countries. For example, of 55,000 diversity visas issued in fiscal year 2005, 10,000 went to African immigrants.

A recent article in the New Yorker magazine called the diversity visa program ``a splendid overseas marketing campaign for the American Dream.''

Let me give an example of one American citizen who came to this country under the diversity visa program, which would be destroyed by the Gregg amendment. His name is Army Specialist Sola Ogundele from Nigeria. He came to the United States and he joined the Army. He recently took his oath of citizenship in Iraq where he was serving the United States and risking his life for this country. Here is what he said.

I'm the happiest man on Earth today to be a U.S. citizen. I know the sky is the limit for me in the United States. I have absolute freedom to pursue my dreams.

People like Specialist Ogundele make the United States stronger, and make us proud. That is what the diversity visa program contributes to our country.

I am the son of an immigrant. I know when my grandparents brought my mother to this country at a very early age, they were looking for that American dream. I don't think they would have imagined the possibility that their grandson would be the 47th Senator in the history of the State of Illinois. That is what it is all about.

The Gregg amendment fundamentally alters the diversity visa program, setting aside two-thirds of these visas for immigrants who hold advanced degrees in science, mathematics, technology, and engineering, saying you can only be considered if you have an advanced degree. These set-asides would favor immigrants from wealthier countries and reduce the diversity of future immigration to our country. By bringing in more high-skilled immigrants, the Gregg amendment would also increase competition for jobs here, jobs like computer programmers and engineers.

The H-1B visa program already allows those with specialized education to come the United States. Why don't we keep the diversity visa program intact? Why don't we protect this program for the value that it brings to America?

The H-1B visa program already grants 65,000 visas to high-skilled immigrants every year. This bill would increase that number to 115,000, and allow that cap to increase by up to 20 percent per year. I am a little concerned, I might add, that the H-1B visa is entirely too generous. The Gregg amendment would add insult to injury, creating even more competition for Americans wanting to keep their jobs.

The Gregg amendment would essentially convert the diversity visa program into just another H-1B program, bringing many more highly trained competitive people to America. You can argue that is good for us. But, as I mentioned earlier, it is at the expense of someone else. I am concerned the Gregg amendment would really make this brain drain I have talked about even worse.

This bill already includes provisions that will increase the brain drain. The New York Times story I mentioned reports on a provision in this bill that will lift the annual cap on the number of nurses who can immigrate to our country every year. The article, which is headlined, ``U.S. Plan to Lure Nurses May Hurt Poor Nations,'' talks about the impact of importing nurses into the United States. They now have a situation in the Philippines where there are so many nurses needed in the United States that medical doctors in the Philippines are signing up to come to the United States as nurses, where they will be paid more than they are paid in the Philippines as doctors.

I need not tell you what that means for the people in the Philippines--fewer and fewer medical professionals that they desperately need. This bill already includes provisions that will increase the brain drain.

I want to tell you candidly, I have stood up for hospitals in Chicago, in poor areas, that needed nurses. I have even stood up and explained on the floor of the Senate why Filipino nurses should be given the chance to immigrate here. But I have second thoughts about that today, after what I read in the New York Times about what is happening in the Philippines and around the world. We have to think twice.

I have an amendment, the brain drain amendment, No.4090, which I hope will be considered by the chairman for inclusion in the manager's package. This amendment would take two modest steps to address the dire shortage of healthcare personnel in the least developed nations of the world.

In exchange for financial support for their education or training, some foreign doctors, nurses, and pharmacists have signed voluntary bonds or made promises to their governments to remain in their home countries or to return from their studies abroad and work in the healthcare profession.

My amendment would ask a simple question to healthcare professionals who are applying to work in this country: have you signed a commitment to work in your home country in exchange for support for your education or training? If they have made such a commitment, they would be inadmissible until they have fulfilled this commitment.

Second, my amendment would allow doctors and nurses who are legal permanent residents of this country to work temporarily in developing countries without prejudicing their own immigration status.

Many immigrants who have come to this country would like to participate in the fight against global AIDS and other health crises. Under my amendment, they could lend their skills to the cause without sacrificing their own American dreams.

These small but important steps will not stop the brain drain, but they will signal American leadership in the effort to help stem the migration of talent from the poorest countries in the world to the richest.

The Gregg amendment, on the other hand, would increase the brain drain, reduce the diversity of immigration to the United States, and increase competition for jobs that Americans want. I will oppose the Gregg amendment and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the Gregg amendment and stick with the diversity visa program.

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