"These work visa programs were never intended to allow a company to retain foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American workers, when that company cuts jobs during an ," Grassley wrote in sent Thursday to . The letter asked Microsoft to detail the types of jobs that will be eliminated and how those cuts will affect the company's H-1B workers.

"It is imperative that in implementing its layoff plan, Microsoft ensures that American workers have priority in keeping their jobs over foreign workers on visa programs," Grassley added.

In some respects, it was a letter that Grassley, a , could have sent to any number of IT vendors that have announced layoffs recently. But Microsoft has been an outspoken proponent of increasing the annual cap on H-1B visas - primarily through its chairman, , who has spoken in support of raising the cap in speeches and in testimony before congressional committees, . Grassley's letter noted as much.

Gates, in his appearance last year before the House Committee on Science and Technology, said that the current cap of 65,000 H-1B visas, plus an additional 20,000 set aside for foreign workers with advanced degrees from U.S. universities, "is arbitrarily set and bears no relationship to the U.S. economy's demand for skilled professionals."

It's uncertain what, if anything, the new Congress will do about the H-1B cap. The next filing period for H-1B applications begins April 1, and demand is again expected to even though the economy is in recession and unemployment is on the rise.