Rolling Up the TARP on H-1B Visas

The U.S. Senate voted on February 6 to limit the number of high-skilled foreign workers to be hired by recipients of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Many TARP recipients had hoped to use bailout money to hire cheap foreign labor and bring them to the United States via H-1B visas. Seeing this potential problem, the Senate has put restrictions on the amount of overseas labor which can be employed.

Well over 600,000 employees were laid off in January 2009 and 2.6 million people lost their jobs in 2008 nationwide. To stem the tide of rising job losses, the Senate chose a course of action which it hopes will encourage the hiring of American workers. This provision is in essence a “buy American” clause for corporate America. Congress holds the purse-strings for the remaining bailout funding, and is likely to put more restrictions on it in the future.

Even if you're not a fan of TARP ya gotta like this, right?