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Rep. Cannon voted against the Goodlatte Amendment to H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005.
Rep. Cannon is a cosponsor of H.R. 793, the Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act of 2005, to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit the timing of issuance of H-2B visas during a fiscal year. Specifically, H.R. 793 would split the H-2B visa cap so no more than 33,000 visas are made available for the first six months the fiscal year, and another 33,000 visas would be available in the second half of the year. HOWEVER, H.R. 793 exempts from the annual cap aliens granted an H-2B visa within three years prior to approval of an H-2B petition, thus potentially TRIPLING the number of H-2B workers in the United States at any one time. Although timing the issuance of H-2B visas is a common-sense approach that would help prevent the situation that occurred in FY 2004 and FY 2005 when the 66,000 annual cap on H-2B (low-skill) nonimmigrant visas was hit within the first quarter of the year, H.R. 793 would ultimately harm American workers by creating exemptions which potentially could triple the number of H-2B workers in the U.S. at any given time.
Rep. Cannon cosponsored H.R. 4041. Introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), H.R. 4041, would have removed the numeric cap on H-2B visas (currently 66,000) for 2004. This would have allowed thousands of low skill foreign workers to enter the U.S. and compete with American workers.
Rep. Cannon cosponsored H.R. 4052, the Save Summer Act of 2004. Introduced by Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA), H.R. 4052 would have raised the H-2B visa cap for 2004 by 40,000 (up from 66,000) for a total of 106,000 H-2B visas.
Voted against American workers by voting in favor of worker-importation program in 2003
Rep. Cannon voted in favor of the Chile Free Trade Agreement, H.R. 2738. The trade agreement would permit an unlimited number of workers in Chile to enter the U.S. each year as "treaty traders or investors" who are coming to the U.S. to carry on trade between the U.S. and Chile or to "establish, develop, administer or provide advice or key technical services" to the operations of a business in which they have invested capital. Congress is prohibited from restricting the category with numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers. This category is in addition to the number of Chileans who are permitted to come to the U.S. each year under our normal immigration laws. Finally, the agreements also prohibit Congress from placing any numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers on the issuance of L-1 visas to nationals of Chile. L-1 visas are available to "intra-company transferees," or aliens who have been employed abroad for at least one year in the three years preceding application by a business that has subsidiaries or affiliates in the United States. Such visas have been widely abused by businesses seeking to avoid the restrictions on H-1B visas. The Chile Free Trade Agreement passed the House by a vote of 270-156.
Voted against American workers by voting for worker-importation program in 2003
Rep. Cannon voted for the Singapore Free Trade Agreement, H.R. 2739. The trade agreement would permit an unlimited number of Singaporeans to enter the U.S. each year as "treaty traders or investors" who are coming to the U.S. to carry on trade between the U.S. and Singapore or to "establish, develop, administer or provide advice or key technical services" to the operations of a business in which they have invested capital. Congress is prohibited from restricting the category with numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers. This category is in addition to the number of Singaporeans who are permitted to come to the U.S. each year under our normal immigration laws. Finally, the agreements also prohibit Congress from placing any numerical limits, labor certification requirements or other protections for American workers on the issuance of L-1 visas to nationals of Singapore. L-1 visas are available to "intra-company transferees," or aliens who have been employed abroad for at least one year in the three years preceding application by a business that has subsidiaries or affiliates in the United States. Such visas have been widely abused by businesses seeking to avoid the restrictions on H-1B visas. The Singapore Free Trade Agreement passed the House by a vote of 272-155.
Voted in 2000 for importing
more foreign workers
Rep. Cannon voted as part of the House Judiciary Committee for H.R.4227 in 2000. This legislation would have removed the cap on the number of H-1B visas available for three years PROVIDED THAT the worker protections from the 1998 H-1B bill be implemented.
Although the bill would have allowed an unlimited number of H-1B visa holders into the country, thus increasing overall numbers, the legislation did contain important worker protections and fraud prevention measures. Among these provisions, H.R.4227 would have required that H-1Bs work full time and are paid more than $40,000 a year. It would also have required that employers provide the Labor Department with information about each H-1B visa holder and that information is posted on the Internet. The legislation passed the committee 18-11.
Nearly doubled H-1B foreign
high-tech workers in 1998
Rep. Cannon helped the House pass H.R.3736. Enacted into law, it increased by nearly 150,000 the number of foreign workers high-tech American companies could hire over the next three years. Although the foreign workers receive temporary visas for up to six years, most historically have found ways to stay permanently in this country. Rep. Cannon voted for more foreign workers even though U.S. high tech workers over the age of 50 were suffering 17% unemployment and U.S. firms were laying off thousands of workers at the time.
Tried to strip worker protections from House
Judiciary Committee's H-1B bill in 1998.
Rep. Cannon was one of only seven members of the House Judiciary Committee of the 105th Congress who voted to allow U.S. firms to lay off Americans to hire foreign workers. The committee held careful hearings on H.R.3736, examining the H-1B temporary foreign worker program and the need for such high-tech workers. The broad bi-partisan consensus of the committee was that there was no conclusive evidence of a worker shortage. But to ensure that high-tech U.S. firms would not get into a bind, the committee voted for a compromise three-year increase in visas for companies that certified (1) they were not laying off Americans to make room for the foreign workers and (2) they had first tried to find an American to do the job. Rep. Cannon joined six of the committee members in pushing the Rogan Amendment to strip out those worker protections and make the bill more like the one that passed the Senate. But the committee voted 24-7 majority AGAINST the Rogan amendment and against Rep. Cannon. After the bill passed the committee, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich executed a little-used power and stripped out the worker protection language before bringing the bill to a vote on the House Floor.
Rep. Cannon has taken no action to reduce
the rewarding of illegal immigration by giving citizenship
to anchor babies.
Voted in favor of "sanctuary cities" for illegal aliens in 2007
Rep. Cannon voted against an amendment (H. Amdt. 294) to offered by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). The Tancredo amendment would prohibit funds from the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill from being distributed to states and localities that have "sanctuary policies" in place that prohibit or inhibit communications between Federal and state/local authorities. The Tancredo Amendment passed by a vote of 234 to 189.
Cosponsoring bill to create an amnesty for illegal agricultural workers in 2007
Rep. Cannon is a cosponsor of H.R. 371, the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007. H.R. 371 is an amnesty for agricultural workers. Of the 1.2 million illegal aliens currently working in agriculture, an estimated 860,000 plus their spouses and children could qualify for this amnesty, so the total could reach three million or more. The potential recipients of the amnesty will be required to prove at least 863 hours or 150 work days of agricultural employment in two preceeding years. H.R. 371 would, subsequently, allow these “blue card” illegal aliens to apply for legal residency (i.e., amnesty), provided they demonstrate that they have worked in agriculture here: (1) 100 work days per year each of the first five years following enactment; (2) 150 work days per year each of the first three years following enactment; or (3) over the course of the first four years after enactment, 150 work days per year for three of those years and 100 work days for the other. Read an analysis of the AgJOBS amnesty.
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