Roger Ross went to DC, and Washington listened! Here is how it went down with our first campaign against bills H.R.1044 and S.386.
Roger arrived in DC on June 5 and we had our first meeting with Speaker Pelosi’s office on June 6. They were fair minded and seemed to enjoy and appreciate our approach. We asked them about hearings on H.R. 1044, and that we would be glad to testify.
Next stop was Rep. Paul A. Gosar of Arizona.
Day two, we were off to Senator Grassley’s office to find out their latest stance on this bill.
As it turns out, Senate sushi is the only thing reasonably edible in the DC.
Day three was more appointments for Roger at the House Cannon building. On day four we passed out material to law makers who did not have adequate information on this topic.
We had a meeting with Ohio Senator Portman’s office. Portman is a big supporter of S.386. They said the bill would enable green cards for Indians, and would allow them to start companies. Except, there is one catch. We told him that Indians discriminate, take care of their own, and do not hire white people much less other non-Indians, They were startled. It is now clear that many in congress live in a bubble. They said they received multiple visits from high class Immigration Voice lobbyists and unsuspectingly took the bait.
Roger started the meeting explaining our positions, and then referred to my story of an Ohio IT worker I know, who is scared and wakes up every day to fears of losing his IT job while taking care of his wife who has Parkinson’s disease. We then whipped out the H1B Facts report (www.h1bfacts.com), and showed them that the job losses were not only in IT, but in the health and financial sectors. They were really intrigued by the data. This the first known instance where the powerful H1B Facts have been witnessed and acknowledged, Now we are getting somewhere.
We completed document distribution in the rest of the Senate Hart building and had fantastic Thai food in Virginia that night.
The next day, Ohio was still on the agenda, and we had a meeting with Senator Sherrod Browns’s offce. The Senator’s office was very curious about what we had to tell them, asking for more information as well as H-1B Facts for the state of Ohio. We would like Senator Brown to speak out not only to his union base, but also to his college graduate base. The Indian activitsts are not voters, but Ohio IT workers are.
We also had meetings with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Senator Cruz, and Senator Feinstein, and stopped by Senator Mike Lee’s office to them know that the Americans are here and are against the bill.
Roger is planning on coming back to DC for round two of Senate Education.
We are making progress, now is the moment.
We are the Davids against the Amazons and Microsofts of the world. Let’s get it done.
www.ProUSWorkers.org