Vote vote the presiding officer any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or to change their vote . If not the yeas are 89. The nays are 1. The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. Mr. Sullivan mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , every week ive been coming down on the floor for over, gosh, almost going on two years now trying to talk about what makes my state and the great state of alaska such an amazing place to live. Gorgeous untouched mountains, glaciers, the wildlife. Ive got some live webcams in my office for people who want to see those. Bears, walruses, see some of the salmon spawning, bears scooping up these amazing fish and choke streams. Please come on by. But most of that happens during the spring and summer and fall. In the winter, of course, is the longest season in alaska, and in my opinion, it is one of the best times to experience our state. So for those watching on tv or in the gallery, we want to welcome you to alaska. Come on up. Youll have the, youll have the trip of a lifetime. I guarantee it. But, mr. President , it is truly the people who make my state such a truly special place. Sand what we try and what we try to do each week is stalk about some of those is talk about some of these people in what weve termed the alaskan of the week. Celebration, to talk about community, to talk about so many alaskans who are helping not only their state and their community, but the country. Generous yet tough and competitive people who make up our wonderful state. And many of them get real excited when the snow starts to fall. They strap on their skis and they fly through the snow. One group of alaskans who every winter strap on their skis and train, and actually train all year round and compete on the hundreds of miles of anchorages trail system is the Alaska Pacific University nordic ski program. Hands down, the very best ski team in america. Hands down. And they are our alaskans of the week. Mr. President , let me tell you a little bit about the a. P. U. Nordic ski program led by coach eric flora, alaskas a. P. U. Nordic ski team year after year after year produces some of our nations finest athletes who compete in races all across the world, including the upcoming Winter Olympics in korea. As i mentioned, mr. President , year after year a. P. U. Athletes are simply the best Cross Country skiers in the nation. Their depth of talent was put on display earlier this month at the u. S. Cross country championships in anchorage where they took 11 out of the 24 podium spots in the senior races and 8 out of the 24 junior podium spots. Think about that. One Team Dominating the u. S. Cross country championships this year. Now, they train all year round. In the summer the ski team trains on eagle glacier, accessible by a tenminute helicopter ride. As the Anchorage Daily News put it, this unique Training Area has, quote, been a spring board to a. P. U. S International and domestic success and dominance. Flora and his staff have groomed serpentine trails that mimic International Courses on a glacier in alaska in the summer. Thats great training. Year round. Now in addition to training and coaching these worldclass athletes, the a. P. U. Nordic ski center also has a popular Junior Program which helps develop the next generation of olympic skiers. Mr. President , ive had the honor to get to know some of these skiers, these wonderful athletes over the past few years, and i think they would make, they certainly make alaskans but i think they would make all americans proud. Great young men and women dedicated, disciplined, humble, hardworking, very smart, and theyre students, and theyre very, very good students. Ive even had the opportunity to come and train with them occasionally. Now im more of a downhill skier than a Cross Country skier, so i went out with them in the fall where there wasnt any snow on the ground to do some mountain interval training. Running with them up and down the mountains. To witness and train with these worldclass athletes was an amazing experience for me, but i must admit it was a difficult experience for me. I think i was smoked after about ten minutes with them, and they had about a twohour workout session on the mountain. But it gave me a sense of just how hard they work and just what dedicated worldclass athletes we have in my hometown. So next month several of these a. P. U. Skiers will travel to korea to represent the United States of america at the Winter Olympics. The way they have in previous olympics. Top skiers for america. Let me just name a few. First, and i would say foremost theres kikan randall, americas most decorated crosscountry skier in u. S. History and an alaskan icon. She will participate in her fifth Winter Olympics. Let me say that again, mr. President. She will participate in her fifth Winter Olympics. That is an incredible record for any american athlete, winter or summer games. Shes also a wonderful person, very, very community oriented. Alongside her will be a. P. U. Teammates sadie and eric burenson. They are e brothers and sister. Rosie brennan and maybe, hopefully, even a few more. Additionally their a. P. U. Teammate just yeatin who was born in australia but grew up in alaska, will ski for the australian crosscountry ski team. Youre getting the picture. This is a group of people who are going to do very, very well in the olympics and are going to represent our country and other countries proudly. Crosscountry kassig is woven Cross Country kassig skiing brings people together and helps build community. So many of our skiers including and especially the a. P. U. Team are also generous and kind in helping others learn how to ski and graciously hosts skiers from all across the country. As was on full display during the recent u. S. Crosscountry championships. So on behalf of all alaskans, really on behalf of all u. S. Senators, id like to wish the team good luck in korea. We will be watching. I know you will make alaskans and our fellow americans very proud as you compete on the world stage once again. Thanks for all you do. Thanks for your tremendous hard work and dedication. And to the a. P. U. Nordic ski team, thanks again for being our alaskans of the week. Mr. President , i yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Hatch i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Hatch thank you. Mr. President , i rise today to discuss the need to improve our highsciel immigration highskill immigration system. It is also an issue that i believe ties in directly with the recent discussions weve been having about meritbased immigration. As i said on the floor last week, highskilled immigration is meritbased immigration. Its immigration targeted at the best and the brightest and the most highly educated. Its immigration targeted at individuals who have the skills employers need. We want to have a discussion about immigrants who will have skills and well educated, highskilled immigration is what we should be talking about. For years we had a system for bringing highskilled workers from other countries to the United States to fill jobs for which there is a shortage of american labor. This system does not replace american jobs, rather it supplants the workforce with talent from other countries in an industry where there is not enough qualified workers to meet the demand. But it is out of date. It caps the number of visas that employers can obtain each year, a number far below demand. This year, like the year before, the annual cap on h1v visas were capped. There were twice as many visa petitions as there were available visas. Our laws also lack a straightforward path for companies to lure educated students from other countries on a permanent basis after graduation. We educate the best and brightest here in america and send them back home because they cant get permanent work in the United States. Now, that makes no sense. In fact, it is just plain stupid. Theres a significant backlog for skilled professionals and advanced degree holders who want to come to the United States. They want to come here on green cards. These are the very individuals we should be encouraging to come to our country, individuals who have technical skills, our science and Technology Companies need, and who will earn good salaries and contribute meaningly to our economy and yet have to wait years and years to obtain a green card. Again, mr. President , you want to talk about meritbased immigration, these are the folks that we should welcome to our country with enthusiasm. Instead we throw out barrier after barrier until many give up. A handful of companies have found ways to gain the h1v system to displace lowerpaid employees. We have heard the stories that American Workers will be replaced. If they want a good reference, they need to train their replacement. These stories disgust me, as they should disgust all americans. Under no circumstances should an employer be able to use a program that was designed to mitigate workforce shortages to put hardworking americans out of a job. That was never the intent of the h1v program, and it must not be allowed to continue. There are also other problems with the h1v program that we need to fix. Too often large employers crowd out Small Businesses by submitting far more visa petitions than they actually need. This practice can lead to wasted visas and put significant disadvantage in the h1v lottery. Another concern for h1v workers who wish to change to green card at itus. Because of a significant backlog, highskilled workers who wish to come to the United States on a permanent basis often start out on h1v visa. Because of our immigration laws, these workers must stay with their original sponsor employer until a green card becomes available which could take ten years or longer many during this time the employee may be forced to make sub optimal wages and work under sub optimal conditions. If the employee were to take a better paying job at another company, the employee would lose his or her place in the green card line. This creates a power imbalance between h1have workers an employers and leads to a whole hoes of issues. So there are a number of problems that we need to address with our highscieled immigration highskilled immigration system. Thats why i am introducing my immigration act to bring our immigration system into the 21st century. This critical legislation contains reforms that will end abuse, provide a clear path for individuals educated in the United States to stay in the United States, and enable employers more easily to hire the talent they need. Id like to thank my good friend from arizona, senator flake, for cosponsoring isquare. Senator flake and i have worked together for a long time on this issue and im grateful for his leadership. Many of my colleagues are familiar with the isquare bill. Ive introduced previous versions in the last two congresses. The verse im introducing today, however, has a number of important changes. In many ways its a different bill. Allow me to highlight some of the changes. Like previous versions, my updated isquare bill raises the annual h1 cap to better meet market demand. It ties the cap to market demand so that the cap increases and decreases as demand increases and decreases. It enables h1v workers to change jobs without losing their status and allows those students attending universities to declare an intent to stay in the United States following graduation so they can more easily secure fulltime employment. The bill authorizes the recapture of unused green cards from previous years and eliminates per Country Green card caps that unfairly discrimination against individuals from countries with larger numbers of applicants. Here is what is new. First, and most important, the bill creates an expressed prohibition on hiring an h1b worker with the intent to replace an american worker. That was never the intent of the h1b program an must not be allowed to happen. Second, the bill creates an expressed prohibition on continuing an conditioning a employee training and h1b replacement. It raises the wages to prevent employers from using h1b workers to be undercut costs. The bill updates the law that exempts h1b employers from nondisplacement requirements if the employer pays its h1b employees a high enough salary. Specifically, the bill raises the salary threshold to match inflation and eliminates the exemption all together for particularly heavy users of h1bs. Fifth, the bill imposes penalties on employers who found more h1b petitions than they need to prevent large cash rich employers from freezing out Small Businesses. All of these provisions will work to tamp down on the abuses weve seen in the h1b system. My updated isquare bill will also end the problem of h1b workers who are on the path to a green card being locked into their current job by enabling such workers to change their jobs without losing their place in the green card line. It creates a new streamlined green card processes for highskilled workers who want to come to the United States on a permanent basis and obtain residency without the h1b system. Many of the problems with our current h1b program stems from the fact that workers seeking temporary employment and workers seeking longterm employment are funneled into the same system. My updated isquare bill will help separate these two employment streams in ways that will benefit both employers an employees. Finally, my updated isquare bill will provide nearly 1 billion in new funding for stem indication and worker Training Programs without raising a single cent in taxes. It does this by increasing fees for h1b petitions and green cards and directing the new funding to state block grants for state training. In many ways, mr. President , the last piece is the most important provision of isquare. The stem disciplines, science, technology, engineering, and math, are going to be critical to our countrys success in the coming decades. Increased funding for Stem Education and worker Training Programs will help ensure that we have the workforce we need to succeed in this global economy. It will help produce more graduates with the Computer Science and engineering skills hightech employers require. It will help to displace globalization in the changing economy to require new indemand skills so they can restart their careers. And if were successful, increased stem funding may even reduce the demand for h1b and other skilled visas in the first place, because it will better align our workforce with employer needs. Isquare is supported by a Broad Coalition of tech companies, trade associations, and other job creators. I ask unanimous consent at time that to enter into the record a number of letters in support of the bill, including letters from Information Technology industry and the Semiconductor Industry association. Thank you, mr. President. Other Key Stakeholders that will be issuing statements of support include microsoft, facebook, the Internet Association and the software alliance. Mr. President , theres a lot of debate about immigration right now. We all know that we need to do something about daca. I know that as well as anyone. Ive been working on a solution for the dreamer population for a very long time. And were going to find a solution. We also need to do something about Border Security and interior enforcement so we dont end up back in the same place 20 years from now. But we can walk and chew gum at the same time. At least i believe we can. And i think talking about meritbased immigration is a good thing. Its an important principle. As we do so, we need to remember that we already have meritbased programs built into our existing immigration laws. The problem, mr. President , is those programs arent working the way theyre supposed to. Theyre not properly aligned with employer needs, and in their current setup theres too much room for waste and abuse. My isquared bill will fix both of these problems. It will help ensure we have the talent in our country that we need to succeed. It will also help equip the next generation of americans to meet the demands of our increasingly techdriven economy. Isquared will also help put an end to the troubling abuses weve seen in the h1b program and ensure that the program is used as it was intended, to supplement, not replace, american labor. I repeat what i said at the outset, mr. President. Highskilled immigration is meritbased immigration. Its immigration targeted at the best, the brightest, and the most highly educated. As we debate how to improve our immigration system, lets keep in mind that we already have meritbased programs in our existing laws. No question about that. Thinking outside the box is important, but its also important not to overlook whats right here in front of us. My isquared bill will help ensure that we have a highskilled immigration system that works, that meets employers needs, that keeps america competitive, and that prepares the next generation of americans to succeed. It is commonsense legislation. It is balanced legislation. And i urge all o