The Senate blueprint would create flexibility in bringing in necessary immigrant workers at both the high and low ends of the skills spectrum, based on economic demand. However, one of today's congressional witnesses, Michael Teitelbaum, plans to tell Congress that he would recommend granting employment-based visas only to high-skilled workers. Teitelbaum served on the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform from 1991 to 1997 and plans to review the commission's recommendations.

The commission recommended granting visas to those with family connections in the U.S., as well as to those with refugee status -- large numbers of low-skilled workers are likely to enter the country through those avenues. However, the commission recommended against both low-skill employment visas and temporary "guest worker" programs.

"Such guestworkers are vulnerable to exploitation, and their presence in large numbers depresses the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers including recent immigrants," Teitelbaum's prepared statement reads.