Rep. Gosar introduces “Great Solutions” bill to stop government discounts on hiring foreign workers

On Tuesday, March 25, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act (H.R. 2315) that would end the Optional Practical Training program (OPT) that gives U.S. employers a discount for NOT hiring American workers. The bill is one of NumbersUSA’s “Great Solutions” for fixing immigration policies in the 119th Congress.

Eight Members of Congress joined Rep. Gosar as original cosponsors (click their names to see their Immigration-Reduction Grade Cards):

• Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL)
• Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)
• Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL)
• Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN)
• Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN)
• Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)
• Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)
• Rep. Harriet M. Hageman (R-WY)

In his statement announcing the introduction of H.R. 2315, Rep. Gosar said:

“OPT incentivizes greedy businesses to fire Americans and replace them with inexpensive foreign labor by avoiding having to pay FICA and Medicare payroll taxes and other employee benefits.  The OPT program completely abandons young Americans who have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics only to be pushed out of those fields by cheap foreigners.

“Our government should not be incentivizing foreign employees over Americans. This badly flawed government program should be eliminated.”

Gosar’s press release, which refers readers to NumbersUSA’s factsheet on OPT, goes on to clarify that H.R. 2315 would not prevent students in America on an F-1 visa from working while in school, but “simply terminates an unauthorized and unfair program that allows F-1 students to remain in the United States for another three years following the completion of their education.”

OPT is one of an alphabet soup of guest worker programs that displace American workers and exploit foreigners, but it is distinctive in that it was never authorized by Congress.

“Most people have little understanding of this outrageous OPT program that was never even authorized by Congress,” says NumbersUSA’s Founder Roy Beck. “I encourage voters to watch NumbersUSA’s short video that exposes the details of how OPT destroys the career dreams of hundreds of thousands of high-skilled American workers.”

• Employers save roughly 8 percent when they hire foreign students or graduates instead of U.S. workers because they don’t have to pay FICA or Medicare taxes under the Optional Practical Training program (OPT).
• The current OPT program was created by executive fiat and was never voted on by Congress.
• OPT workers are not guaranteed a prevailing wage.
• OPT costs Social Security and Medicare about $4 billion dollars every year.

“Critics have long argued that the STEM OPT program, initiated during the George W. Bush administration, functions more as a work permit pathway than a genuine educational training initiative,” wrote Kevin Lynn of the Institute for Sound Public Policy. “Senator Charles Grassley articulated these concerns in a 2022 letter, describing the program as a “shadow H-1B program” lacking proper worker protections.”

Lynn highlights the available data to indicate that, indeed, more foreign workers are using the OPT program now than have H-1B visas.