Yesterday I went on the Chuck Wilder talk radio show as planned. Much to my surprise, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords answered my challenge to go on the radio show with me so that she could explain why she should would sponsor a bill that would triple the H-1B cap.
Giffords didn’t actually call in, but her press secretary CJ Karamargin called before the show started. He declined to go on the air but he assured Chuck Wilder that there is no truth to the ”rumor” that Giffords has re-introduced her "Innovation Employment Act" of 2008.
That very good news greeted me when I went on the show, and Wilder and I talked about what it really all means. After the show I decided to call Karamargin to confirm what Wilder heard. In short, this is what I found out:
I found it surprising that the press secretary was in Tucson, Arizona this time of year, and it was somewhat troubling that the two offices had such different versions of the status of the bill because conflicting stories often mean trouble.
Karamargin mentioned that there is a huge "buzz" in the blogosphere over this story and thought that I could help dampen the rumors. I explained to him that the firestorm that occurred should be a strong warning to Giffords that the public isn’t going to tolerate an increase of H-1B. We very much disagreed on the merits of the H-1B program.
Chuck Wilder concluded the show by saying this:
Rob, my position is this: is that I'm going to believe what they told me that it's not in the judiciary, and you and are are just going to sit back and see, and if they lied to us, then heaven help them if they did lie!
I agree with Wilder. Considering the fact that Karamargin is Rep. Giffords' official spokesman, we can be somewhat safe to assume that Giffords hasn't introduced a bill to raise the H-1B cap and doesn't intend on doing so anytime soon. If Giffords introduces an H-1B increase bill then we can use this incident as a talking point to pressure her.
My theory, for whatever it’s worth is that Giffords felt a lot of heat over the bill and told the Judiciary to table it. Of course it could be a matter of the left foot not knowing where the right is going. There is a possibility that the Washington DC office was as confused as Computerworld — the magazine that printed a 2008 article by Grant Gross but dated it 2009. Since the controversy began, Computerworld, CIO, and several other publications corrected their date. If you see the same article with a 2009 date it is a mistake!
I seriously doubt Giffords would introduce a new bill for the 112th Congress. That's an election year, and even though she panders to Bill Gates and the high tech industry, she still needs to get elected. Not even a liberal globalist like Giffords is going to gamble an election away to expand the H-1B program.
Listen to a podcast of that radio show.
