Outsourcing Lobbyists Astroturfed Support for H-1B Visas During the Obama Era
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen pressured Democrats to embrace outsourcing and H-1Bs visas. He didn't disclose his Indian IT client.
Earlier this month, we explored how outsourcing giants covertly shaped the first Trump administration, using paid media appearances and think tank reports to demand the importation of more H-1B visa workers.
That report scratched the surface. Turning the clock back a bit more, many of the same tactics were used during the Obama years. Indian IT firms quietly paid prominent Democrats to make many of the same arguments, and the lobbying was often done secretly.
This has never been reported before, and it’s worth just setting the record straight, especially as these visas' roles again take center stage.
William Cohen, who served as a U.S. Senator and later as the Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration, is one prominent example.
Cohen, in televised appearances and in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, pressured Democrats against stoking “anti-outsourcing sentiment.” He sharply opposed efforts by the party to reign in the H-1B program and penalize corporations for moving jobs overseas.
Cohen said he was citing sensible economic policy and scorned Obama for using populist appeals. “That may play well in Buffalo,” wrote Cohen. “But the fact is that for every job outsourced to Bangalore, nearly two jobs are created in Buffalo and other American cities.”
Speaking on C-SPAN, Cohen argued that greater globalization has been a net benefit to American workers. He said he could give examples of “in-sourcing” companies with an "emphasis from India" that create jobs in the United States. He listed Tata Consultancy Services.
The former defense secretary did not mention that Tata was paying him through his own consulting operation, a firm known as the Cohen Group. The association was also not disclosed in his byline for the WSJ.
Tata — along with Wipro, Cognizant, Infosys, and HCL America — are among the largest recipients of H-1B foreign worker visas. The firms are widely known for using the visa program to help corporations source IT-related jobs, usually with lower-paid workers from South Asia.
Southern California Edison previously laid off 500 people in its IT department and required its American workers to train their own H-1B replacements sourced from Tata. The company also helps American firms offshore work to India. Corporations as varied as retailer Toys “R” Us to railway giant CSX have similarly used Tata to send entire IT departments to India.
Cohen’s work for Tata at the time went undisclosed in the U.S. press but was reported by a newspaper in India. The Cohen Group does not disclose its client list, nor does it register as a lobbying firm, despite its work to influence government policy.