DAILY ROUNDUP
American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: The controversy-racked immigration reform bill being deliberated by the Senate Judiciary committee continues to draw ire from different quarters. The proposals include the likelihood of increasing the work visas known as H-1B by five-fold, and that is exactly what the IEEE-USA – the largest American body of professional engineers don’t want.
In a statement, IEEE-USA, have condemned the Gang of Eight Senators’ proposals to increase the work visas, and certain amendments added to the bill, which they say will make it easier for American companies to hire cheap labor, displace American workers, and to ship jobs overseas.
“Outsourcing is damaging to U.S. workers and the American economy. We need laws that promote U.S. job growth, not encourage it to leave our shores,” IEEE-USA president Marc Apter said in the statement.
The H-1B visas, which are right now capped at 65,000 annually, may go up to 300,000 to 325,000 annually if amendments by Senators Orrin Hatch and Ted Cruz are introduced to the legislation.
“When exemptions are included, this would equal roughly 10 percent of the total U.S. engineering workforce. This is troubling in light of recent reports that the top 10 companies using H-1B visas specialize in shipping American jobs offshore,” IEEE-USA said.
The engineering body’s concerns come on the heels of several other organizations also taking up issues over other provisions of the bill, which suggest that the Gang of Eight Senators’ proposals is set to stoke controversy as it slowly makes it way to the white House for President Obama’s signature.
A WORKAHOLIC GENIUS GRADUATES: If you thought it was hard to squeeze in all those credits to graduate in four years, then the achievement of Ritankar Das, 18, is mind boggling. Das has become the youngest graduation topper in more than a century at the University of California, Berkeley, after completing a double major in bioengineering and chemical biology and a minor in creative writing within three years.
Das is also the first student to earn the ‘University Medal’ honor from the University’s College of Chemistry in 58 years and the first ever from the Department of Bioengineering, reported the University Caller. The University Medal, established in 1871, is conferred every year to an outstanding graduating student with a minimum Grade Point Average of 3.96. Das is graduating from Berkeley, with more than 200 credits and a GPA of 3.99, including eight A+ marks.
He will receive the medal at Commencement Convocation on May 18th that will be addressed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and California Gov. Jerry Brown, said the Caller.
Das has already made his plans for the future: he next heads across the Atlantic to Oxford University to pursue a master’s degree in biomedical engineering through a fully funded Whitaker Fellowship, then it’s back to the shores here, to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for a chemistry Ph.D. program.
Read the full story in the University Caller here:
AWARD FOR KENTUCKY BUSINESSMAN: Hotelier Kiran Patel has been awarded by the Henderson Chamber of Commerce in Kentucky as its 2013 Ambassador of the Year, reported the www.gleaner.com
“Like previous winners of the Ambassador of the Year Award, (Patel) puts in several hours every day at their job and is very active in the chamber: attending ribbon cuttings, Brown Bag lunch events and other chamber events held throughout the year,” the report said.
After moving to Henderson with his family in 1994, Patel started his venture as a businessman by buying a motel, and then expanded operations in 2011, buying the Henderson Hotel building, renovating it into what is now The Gilmore Inn in the city.
To contact the author, e-mail: [email protected]