1.   Among the countries participating in the visa waiver program are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

2.   As millions of Americans lost their jobs in an economic slowdown, U.S. companies hired a record number of skilled foreigners under a special visa program.

3.   Administration officials argued that the temporary visa program was rife with abuse and insisted on stronger protections for American workers.

4.   But almost from their inception, temporary visa programs have been attacked by immigrant and labor advocates for fostering a cheap class of workers vulnerable to abuse.

5.   But not all workers in the visa program will be reap the benefits.

6.   Defenders of the visa program respond that foreign workers are essential, recession or not, to give American industries their competitive edge.

7.   Fleischer later confused matters further by indicating that the administration might define a temporary visa program so loosely as to become a virtual amnesty.

8.   Four million Japanese tourists, thousands of whom traveled to Washington state, used the visa waiver program last year.

9.   Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, contended that the numbers show that the visa program is working properly.

10.   He said that rather than focus on student visas, the State Department should fix problems with the entire visa program.