Voted in 1996 to continue chain migration

Sen. Gramm in 1996 voted against the Simpson Amendment to S.1664. It was a vote in favor of a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million. Sen. Gramm supported provisions that allow immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Simpson Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. But Sen. Gramm helped kill the reform by voting with the 80-20 majority against the amendment. Sen. Gramm's vote helped continue a level of immigration that the Census Bureau projects will result in a doubled U.S. population in the next century.

Voted in favor of chain migration in 1996

Sen. Gramm voted in 1996 against the Feinstein Amendment to S.1664. The Feinstein Amendment would have reduced annual admission of spouses and minor children of citizens to 480,000 and significantly reduced annual limits other categories of chain migration such as parents of citizens and adult unmarried children of citizens. By voting against the Feinstein Amendment, Sen. Gramm voted in favor of a system of chain migration that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today. In 1996 the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Feinstein Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. The Feinstein Amendment would have had an overall impact of reducing U.S. population growth by about 1.2 million over 10 years, but it was defeated by a vote of 26 to 74.

Voted for huge increase in 1990

Sen. Gramm helped pass in 1990 that increased the numbers in all categories of immigration. America’s immigration tradition had been around 250,000 immigrants a year until the 1980s when numbers rose dramatically to more than 500,000 a year. After Sen. Gramm voted in 1990 in favor of raising limits, immigration has now snowballed to around 1,000,000 (one million) a year, contributing the majority of U.S. population and labor growth, congestion and sprawl.

	Voted for a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000.
	Sen.Gramm voted for S.2045, the Abraham foreign worker bill to nearly triple the number of foreign high-tech workers. On the heels of the release of a GAO report finding no proof of a high-tech worker shortage and evidence of abuse in the H-1B program, Sen. Gramm voted for this foreign worker bill that contained no worker protections or anti-fraud measures. The bill passed the Senate 96-1.

	Cosponsored a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000.
	Sen.Gramm cosponsored S.2045, the Abraham foreign worker bill to nearly triple the number of foreign high-tech workers. The bill passed the Senate 96-1.

Nearly doubled H-1B foreign high-tech workers in 1998

Sen. Gramm helped the Senate pass S.1723 in a 78-20 vote. Enacted into law, it increased by nearly 150,000 the number of foreign workers high-tech American companies could hire over the next three years. Although the foreign workers receive temporary visas for up to six years, most historically have found ways to stay permanently in this country. Sen. Gramm voted for more foreign workers even though U.S. high tech workers over the age of 50 were suffering 17% unemployment and U.S. firms were laying off thousands of workers at the time.

Voted to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998

Before the Senate passed the H-1B doubling bill (S.1723), Sen. Gramm had an opportunity to vote for a measure requiring U.S. firms to check a box on a form attesting that they had first sought an American worker for the job. Sen. Gramm voted against that, joining those who said the requirement would give government too much authority over corporations’ right to hire whomever they please from whatever country.

	Voted to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998
	Before the Senate passed the H-1B doubling bill(S.1723), Sen. Gramm had an opportunity to vote for a Kennedy amendment that would have prohibited U.S. firms from using temporary foreign workers to replace Americans. Sen. Gramm opposed that protection. The Amendment failed 38-60.

Sen. Gramm has taken no action to reduce
the rewarding of illegal immigration by giving citizenship
to anchor babies.

Inviting / Repelling Illegal Aliens top

Voted for comprehensive alien tracking and identification system in 2002

Sen. Gramm voted in favor of H.R. 3525, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001. H.R. 3525 will significantly reduce future population growth from illegal immigration by making it much harder for temporary visa holders to stay in the country illegally after their visa expire. H.R. 3525 provides for an entry-exit system in which every visa holder is checked with a biometric identifier when heshe enters and leaves the country. This information is included in an integrated database that is shared by the appropriate law-enforcement officials. H.R. 3525 passed the Senate unanimously by a vote of 97-0 and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush.

Voted against an amnesty for illegal aliens in 2000
Sen. Gramm voted against a procedural vote to include an amnesty for illegal aliens from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti in the Senate H-1B bill (S.2045). This was not necessarily a vote against the amnesty but rather a vote against including it with the H-1B bill. The move to include the amnesty with the H-1B legislation failed43-55 in a procedural vote on the Senate floor.

Voted against an amnesty to nearly one million illegal aliens from Nicaragua and Cuba in 1997

Sen. Gramm was the lone voice against granting legal status to Nicaraguans and Cubans who had lived in the United States illegally since 1995, along with their spouses and minor unmarried children. The overall ten year impact of this legislation will be the addition of some 967,000 people to U.S. population. There was no separate vote on the amnesty, as it was included in the DC Appropriations bill. The only opportunity Senators had to vote in favor of or against the amnesty was the Mack Amendment to S.1156. The Mack Amendment passed 99-1.

Voted in 1996 for major law that cracked down on illegal aliens.

Sen. Gramm was part of a 97-3 majority which passed S.1664. It was a large omnibus bill with dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration. It authorized major increases in the border patrol forces. But it also had many provisions aimed at making life more miserable for illegal aliens who manage to get into the country, half of whom arrive with legal visas but then illegally overstay. Until passage of the bill, a person could be apprehended as an illegal alien, be deported and then turn around and come back to the U.S. on a legal student, tourist, worker or relative visa. After the bill, an illegal alien was barred from any kind of legal entry for 10 years.

Tried to kill voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996

Sen. Gramm voted IN FAVOR of the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. He was part of a coalition of pro-business conservatives and liberal civil libertarians who tried to use the amendment to kill the establishment of voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states. The programs were intended to assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. Sen. Gramm was unsuccessful in stopping the voluntary verification system. The Senate tabled the amendment by a 54-46 vote.