coming more global." That is exactly what the H-1B hike did ?- miss the opportunity for a considered debate. So that's the bad news. The good news is that, more than a year after the IEEE-USA and our partners in the Immigration Reform Coalition first made a case for "green cards, not guest workers," IT employers now say they want what we proposed all along Sandy Boyd, top lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers, has called for the next Congress to focus on "green card reforms," suggesting such reforms will eliminate the need for more temporary visa increases. So maybe now, at last, we can build on the "sensible center." Year in and year out, 50,000-78,000 permanent immigration visas based on employment go unused, while demand for the H-1B NON-immigrant visa exceeds the available number. Green cards are better than guest worker visas not only because they make the new worker a free agent, able to change jobs for higher pay, but also because they provide more effective protection for U.S. workers. "Politics ain't beanbag," of course, as somebody once put it, and we shouldn't be naive about the high stakes games that are played in our nation's Capitol. All too often these serve no one's interest ?- not IT employers, nor U.S. workers, much less H-1Bs themselves. For more than a decade, some of those who now claim to support green card reforms have actually worked to prevent them. What will happen next year (if anything), will be based on what each player feels is in his or her particular interest. What's really at stake in the continuing debate is illuminated by the H-1B visa holders themselves. As our surveys showed, virtually all H-1B visa holders want permanent residency. Harris Miller, the top officer of the Information Technology Association of America, recently said that the H-1B program is a "minor leagues" for IT employers. That is, the IT industry has persuaded the U.S. government to provide it with a large and growing pool of temporary workers who want permanent residency. This pool
	Letter from the IEEE-USA 2000 President Merrill Buckley Who Asks: "Who Needs A UCITA?" The Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) is a "one size fits all" law that amounts to "a free pass for the software industry," says IEEE-USA President Merrill W. Buckley, Jr. in his latest monthly "Letter From the President." IEEE-USA recognizes the need to modernize often outdated state laws governing commerce, but opposes UCITA because it would grant software makers virtual impunity with regard to product liability. Buckley warns that, if passed, the UCITA legislation would ultimately have a "chilling effect on innovation and competition -- to say nothing of accountability -- for software makers and users alike." Read President Buckley's letter at: http://www.ieeeusa.org/intro/buckley/buckleyjune00.html The IEEE-USA's President's Column November-December 2000 A "Farm Team" Of Guest Workers: Now What?" By Merrill W. Buckley, Jr., IEEE-USA 2000 President Despite our best efforts during the 106th Congress, for the next three years, a substantial number of would-be permanent immigrants will come into the United States to fill high-tech jobs on temporary visas. As the National Research Council taskforce of the National Academy of Sciences put it in "Building a Workforce for the Information Economy," Congress should "consider the effect of having increased the numbers of H-1B visas without having significantly streamlined the labor certification process?"  Ironically, the NRC report missed its October 1st deadline, and Congress had acted well before the report was released. So it is hard to be sure what the report's next sentence meant: "The Committee believes it would be a mistake to adopt 'stop-gap measures?' and miss the opportunity for a considered debate on the nation's immigration policies given the fact that our economy is rapidly be
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