‘If companies want to hire foreign workers instead of Americans, my bill will hit them where it hurts: Their pocketbooks.’
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff
United States Senator Bernie Moreno from Ohio introduced the Halting International Relocation of Employment Act, or HIRE Act, to protect American workers from outsourcing by disincentivising US companies from chasing cheaper wages and hiring foreign workers.
The legislation, which was introduced on Sunday is set to impose a tax on any company that employs foreign labour instead of Americans and will use the generated revenue to fund workforce development programmes with an aim to aid the American middle-class.
‘While college grads in America struggle to find work, globalist politicians and C-Suite executives have spent decades shipping good-paying jobs overseas in pursuit of slave wages and immense profits — those days are over,’ Moreno said in a statement.
‘It’s time to fight for working class Americans and ensure they can work and retire with dignity. If companies want to hire foreign workers instead of Americans, my bill will hit them where it hurts: Their pocketbooks.’
The bill creates a 25% tax on outsourcing payments, defined as any money paid by a US company or taxpayer to a foreign person whose work benefits consumers in the United States.
Moreno’s bill to ‘protect American workers’ comes after he led the effort to implement strict penalties on executives that hire illegal immigrants.
The proposal comes after Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis slammed the H-1B visa programme, calling it a ‘total scam’ and arguing that it allows companies to replace American workers with foreign labour.
During an interview on Fox News on August 27, DeSantis claimed that companies often train American workers alongside H-1B visa holders, only to lay off the Americans and hire the foreign workers.
