ABSTRACT
Conventional wisdom maintains that the enduring structures of American politics make rapid policy change unlikely. Global competitiveness and labor market efficiency were important political touchstones during the 1980s. The rhetorical power of these slogans was stoked by the spectacle of rapid economic growth along the Pacific Rim and in West Germany at a time of recession in the United States. Despite the implausibility of using immigration policy to fine-tune domestic labor markets, the idea gained powerful support, leaving its imprint on many provisions of the 1990 act, including the new employment visa provisions and the "McDonald's exception" permitting foreign students to work off-campus to fill jobs that Americans seemed to disdain. Bruce Morrison's strategy was evident in the title of his version of the immigration bill: the Family Unity and Employment Opportunities Act of 1990. The 1990 act continued to accord primacy to family unity goals but did give labor market concerns somewhat more weight.
