Big Business Pushes Congress For More Foreign Workers While Laying Off Americans

The Big Business lobby stepped up its game earlier this week when human resource officers from more than 100 large corporationssent a letter to House Leadership pushing for an immigration bill that would grant a blanket amnesty and provide dramatic increases in the number of work permits given to new foreign workers each year. It coincided with a "Day of Action" organized by FWD.us - the organization co-founded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

A few of the companies that signed the letter included: General Electric, Disney, Marri ott, Hilton, McDonalds, Wendy's, Coca-Cola, Cheesecake Factory, Cisco, and Verizon.

Last week's monthly unemployment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics depicted a declining situation for American workers. More than half a million working-aged Americans left the labor force, raising the total number to more than 90 million. Plus, a slightly better report from July was revised to show that only 104,000 new jobs were created that month compared to the 162,000 jobs first thought. In June, BLS reported that 195,000 jobs had been created, but last week's report revised the number down to 172,000.

Compare those new job numbers with the125,000 new work permits issued each month to foreign workers.

Looking at just the sampling of companies that signed onto this week's letter, many fall into service occupations, including retail, food service, and hospitality. And yet, according the August jobs report, the unemployment rate for Americans who consider themselves in the service industry is 8.4% - more than a full percentage point above the national rate. In production and transportation (an industry Coca-Cola might fall into), the unemployment rate is at 8.5%.

As Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) pointed out this week in an op-ed published for The Hill, there's a huge disconnect between business and the labor market. He wonders why so many in Congress are so eager to pass a bill that puts the interests of the business community, illegal aliens, and millions of foreign citizens ahead of the American people. Read more on this op-edhere.

Byron York, a political columnist for theWashington Examiner, also noted that many of the businesses that signed onto the letter have laid off thousands of workers in recent years. He notes that Hewlett-Packard laid off 29,000 employees just last year. Now they want more foreign workers. Cisco has already laid off 8,000 employees and announced plans to lay off 4,000 more. They want more foreign workers. Marriott has announced that they're laying off "thousands" of workers. They, too, want more foreign workers.

Why many in Congress choose to ignore these facts is unknown, but with your help, we'll help them see the full picture. We've posted new faxes on your Action Board to send to your Three Members of Congress. These faxes tell your Members about Byron York's article and attaches a copy of the article to the fax. Please visit your Action Board today and send these faxes!