The economic prosperity of the 1990s fueled a drive to increase the levels of
employment-based immigration. The nation enjoyed its longest economic expansion,
and the unemployment rate had remained low. Both the Congress and the Federal
Reserve Board then expressed concern that a scarcity of labor could curtail the pace
of economic growth. A primary legislative response was to increase the supply of
foreign temporary professional workers through FY2003. The 108th Congress now
weighs whether to extend the increases or let the levels revert to the statutory limit
