Date: 2012-11-30
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. over the last few days in the Rules Committee. during debate on the rule. and in todays debate. weve had a common refrain from our friends on the other side of the aisle. Over and over. they say theres agreement on STEM visas. and we shouldnt let politics get in the way. For the good of America and our economy. they say. we should come together on this bipartisan issue and do whats right. I agree. By all accounts. there is nothing but support for a STEM visa program to attract and retain the best and brightest minds from around the world. and we support STEM visas. They support STEM visas. Everybody supports STEM visas. So why on Earth arent we just voting on STEM visas? According to our colleagues. thats the message we should take away from the election. Even though we may not agree on everything. we should put partisanship aside and find areas of common ground for the good of the country. and thats exactly what this motion to recommit would do. This motion presents us with a clean STEM visa program. copied word for word from the underlying bill. but without the unrelated measures. If its true that this vote is about creating STEM visas and not about eliminating unrelated immigration programs. then you should vote for this motion. We should put words into action and vote for a clean STEM bill. As we all know. this motion will only amend the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. The bill will immediately proceed to final passage. as amended. Lets be clear. a vote against this motion is a vote against STEM visas. It says that you care more about eliminating the unrelated Diversity Visa program than you care about getting a STEM visa program. Eliminating the Diversity Visa program has absolutely nothing to do with STEM visas. Its an unfortunate attack on immigrants and minorities. and it has no place in the STEM bill. Its also remarkably tonedeaf. considering the recent election just 3 weeks ago. The minority and immigrant communities sent a powerful message to our friends on the other side of the aisle. Our friends say they heard that message. They acknowledged the need to reach out to those communities and take a different tack with respect to immigration. Well. actions speak louder than words. If you really want to reach out to minorities. perhaps you shouldnt start with a bill that eliminates the Diversity visas. And if you want to reach out to immigrants. perhaps you shouldnt start with a bill that pits immigrant communities against each other. The choice between STEM immigrants and Diversity immigrants is one we are being forced to make. We do not need to make it. When we discuss offsets in the budget context. its about money and deficits and debt. but here were talking about people. Is that who we are as a country? I. for one. do not believe we should offset families. spouses. or children. If you care about immigrants. you know they help grow our economy and renew our spirit. They are not pawns in a zerosum game. The motion to recommit also includes critical protections for U.S. workers absent from the underlying bill. We all acknowledge that a STEM visa program is important. It can grow our economy. but surely it should not come at the expense of the salaries of American workers. We should not have a race to the bottom on wages. You know. a lot of the discussion today about the zerosum theory on which this bill has been presented seems to imply that unless you have a graduate degree. you are not really going to contribute to this country. Thats simply false. When you think about some of the great innovatorsSergey Brin. born in Russia. cofounder of Google. in my county. that employs thousands and thousands of Americans. he didnt come here because of his degree. He came with his parents. Jerry Yang. founder of Yahoo!. grew up in east San Jose. He didnt come because he got admitted to Stanford. He came with his family. Andy Grove. a legend in Intel. he didnt come because of his degree. He came as a refugee. I am reminded of my grandfather and what he brought to this country. At age 16. he got on a boat. He never saw his parents again. He never got a degree. He came to America because he wanted to be free. He worked hard all his life. I went to Stanford University. I was the first in my family to go to college. But I am here today in Congress because my grandfatherwithout an education but with a lot of heart. with enough getupandgo to get up and gocame to become an American. I am sure that if you examine the history of so many Members of Congress. you would find in their family trees people who had enough getupandgo to come to the United States. We are now proud Members of Congress in that tradition of America. I urge you. support the motion to recommit. Dont turn our backs on immigration. I yield back the balance of my time.