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Ted Cruz Wants Minimum H-1B Wage of $110,000 (computerworld.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the mo'-money-mo'-workers dept.

dcblogs writes: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, has morphed from a vocal supporter of the H-1B program to a leading critic of it. He has done so in a new H-1B reform bill (PDF) that sets a minimum wage of $110,000 for H-1B workers. By raising the cost of temporary visa workers, Cruz is hoping to discourage their use. Cruz also wants to eliminate Optional Practical Training Program (OPT). The co-sponsor of this bill, The American Jobs First Act of 2015, is U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who called the OPT program "a backdoor method for replacing American workers."

16 of 543 comments (clear)

  1. C'mon, read the newspape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's still poverty in Silicon Valley

  2. Ha! by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Good luck with that.

    No way will corporations and the lobbying of the chamber of commerce allow this intrusion of socialism to harm profits! Every .com and software company in existence will freak out and open their wallets in unifying opposition!

    I guess it shows the goverment hasn't worked for it's people in the US for a long time now. This is a show for votes as no way this will pass.

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
    1. Re:Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Two people in Congress finally do something that isn't complete self-serving bullshit and the best response slashdot can come up with is a guy making fun of them.

  3. Not always a good idea by grilled-cheese · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Companies are going to do whatever makes the most money. The H1-B program gets them cheap labor in the US. Take away cheap labor, jobs will simply move offshore. If the labor is at least based in the US, those workers are still participating in the US economy.

  4. That he may be by Pollux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't like Ted Cruz. I don't like that he has double-standards. I think he's a hypocrite. And I don't like the platform he has chosen to run on.

    But a good idea is a good idea. And when someone we disagree with shares a good idea, we should unite behind it, rather than censor it because of its source. If we don't, we just divide this nation further.

    1. Re:That he may be by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But a good idea is a good idea.

      It's not though. That salary might be low in some places and high in others. It might be low in one industry or high in another. In my area/industry that's actually really low, but there are a lot of H1Bs here. Additionally, salaries change over time, do we need a federal fiat every time? Will we have to fight for "minimum indentured servant wage increase" every N years?

      H1Bs should stop being granted. Offer green cards to present holders, but no more new ones. Either they come in with a green card and you take the risk that they leave or suck, or they don't come in.

    2. Re:That he may be by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd say it's a better idea than the current setup - which isn't saying much.

      The H-1B program definitely needs to be massively overhauled. I wouldn't say it needs to be permanent residency, but it certainly needs to entitle the holder to freely move to another job, just like any other worker. The companies also need to be made to pay enough in fees for sponsoring it that they won't be making money - let's say, $100k per year of the visa. There also shouldn't be any rebates if the worker quits, so there's incentive to pay the person well and treat them well. For people who really represent such critical skills that there really is no American available to do the job, that shouldn't be an issue at all.

    3. Re:That he may be by Faust6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's a good idea to jump on it (read: appropriate) early, because it's a rather left-leaning populist idea. If the Dems pushed this bill first he'd have to cry bloody murder.

    4. Re:That he may be by Bartles · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It doesn't need to be overhauled. It needs to be ended.

  5. Benefits? Vacation" by MDMurphy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First "loophole" I could think of off the top of my head would be: "Sure we'll pay them $110K". Oh, those jobs include no paid health benefits, no vacation, no sick leave. That could drop the "cost" of the employee down to someone making $70K.

    While that sounds bad at first, it wouldn't really be horrible, heck I might even be interested in having all the cash my employer was willing to put out and leave it up to me to spend it. For couples where the other spouse has a good deal on insurance, it might be nice to have the money rather than overlapping policies.

  6. Close.... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Add $80,000 to that number for any H1B in California or New York City.

    Honestly, H1B is NOT for cheap labor, it 's for highly skilled professionals that you cant find anywhere else. Force the scumbag CEO's to pay for them.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Close.... by nobuddy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What it is for and how it is used are two very different things.

  7. Re:Jobs will be offshored by tsotha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they could offshore these jobs they would already have done it.

  8. Re:Another dumbfuck politician. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just get everyone to agree on the precise boundary of what "free trade" is. Can you buy animals? Can you buy water rights? Can you own ideas? Writing? People? What about land? What if I just have enough guns?

    Your notions of property rights might seem obvious to you, but not everyone agrees with you. We, as a community, must come to a consensus. One man's free trade is another man's anarchy, and another's totalitarianism. Can't tell if I'm responding to sarcasm or not.

  9. Re:I support this. by crackspackle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If a company truly needs expertise that just simply cannot be found in the US, then a six figure salary is probably a bargain. Of course, this will never pass.I can dream, though.

    If it does pass, I'm leaving the country and coming back on a visa.

  10. Re:Cruz can't be trusted by bigpat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ted Cruz used to be the Republican candidate who I considered the most arrogant, and most annoying to listen to (he started running for president years ago!). Sometimes things change.

    No, I still think Cruz is annoying, arrogant, etc. etc... but on this one particular issue he is right and has put forward a good proposal.

    We really need to get past partisan politics where whole issues get misappropriated by political parties. People are not stereotypes and ideas should matter more than the color of their party.