Tech Lobby Increasing Intensity on Amnesty Bill
Now that the tech industry has secured provisions in the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill that provides massive increases in both green cards and guest-worker visas for high-skilled workers, their lobbying arm is putting a full-court press on Congress to pass the bill. Most recently, television ads paid for by the tech industry have been launched in states where moderate Democrats and Republicans live to provide cover for a potentially damaging vote in support of the Gang's bill.
Facebook President Mark Zuckerberg has joined forces with other industry giants to form the group Americans for a Conservative Direction. They've also formed FWD.us, both of which are providing cover for Conservative Members of Congress despite the fact that the founders of the two groups have been long-time donors of the Democratic Party.
"We are very pleased with the progress and happy with what's in the bill," Peter J. Muller, a former House aide who now works as the director of government relations at Intel, told the New York Times. "It addresses many of the issues we've been advocating for years."
With the Gang of Eight's bill now introduced in Congress, the tech lobby hasn't stopped its push to modify the bill even more. According to the New York Times, the tech industry is working to remove regulatory provisions in the bill that they don't like, including provisions aimed to protect American workers from foreign worker competition.
Sen. Marco Rubio, who's leading the amnesty effort, said there's not much opposition to the tech portions of the bill, but Rubio acknowledged that "their future and getting the reform passed is tied to the overall bill." Last year, the House of Representatives passed a tech-only immigration bill that earned the support of the tech industry, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to bring the bill to the floor in the Senate.
In 2010, Facebook spend $351,000 on lobbying Congress. In the first quarter of 2013, they spent $2.45 million. Google spent $18 million in 2012 on immigration lobbying.
For more information, see the New York Times.