The legislation, however, does nothing to close loopholes in the H-1B program, said Ron Hira, a public policy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a longtime critic of the visa program.
"This is a terrible bill for American technology workers and students," Hira said in an email. "It greatly expands a deeply flawed guest worker program that takes away job opportunities from American workers and undercuts their wages."
There's nothing to recommend in the bill, he added. "Given that employers can pay H-1Bs less than American workers and they never have to look for available American workers before hiring an H-1B, expect the cap to be hit every year," he said.
Another group of senators announced a comprehensive immigration reform bill Monday. President Barack Obama is also scheduled to pitch his own immigration plan Tuesday.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.
