Comprehensive Immigration Reform Proposal

The “gang of 8”, Senators Schumer, McCain, Durbin, Graham, Menendez, Rubio, Bennet, and Flake has released its Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform on Jan. 28, 2013.

Here's coverage from the New York Times.

Congressional Research Service 11/26/12 report on options for foreign nationals with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees

Congressional Research Service 11/26/12 report CRS STEM Report.pdf on options for foreign nationals with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees, including temporary and permanent options for students and employees, as well as a legislative history of STEM bills.

House Passes Lamar Smith’s STEM Jobs Act

Published in the National Voice, by Van Le on 11/30/2012

"In the first vote on an immigration bill since this month’s election, the Republican-controlled House rehashed an old policy and passed a version of a bill that already failed earlier this year, 245-139.  Twenty-seven Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the legislation.

The STEM Jobs Act, sponsored by anti-immigrant Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), would increase visas for high-skilled workers in exchange for the elimination of the diversity lottery, which grants a number of permanent residency visas to countries with low rates of immigration to the US.  The bill now heads to the Democrat-controlled Senate, which seems likely to ignore it; the Obama administration has already come out against it.
In his floor speech against the STEM Jobs Act today, immigration reform champion Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) expounded on earlier comments that the GOP-backed bill treated immigration like a “zero-sum game.”  He said:

We need to stop scoring cheap political points and playing games with immigration and start working together.
Which is why it is so DISAPPOINTING the majority decided to undermine an area of bipartisan agreement on STEM visas by loading up the measure with provisions that are a slap in the face to the core values of the United States.
If you support this bill, you are saying that one group of immigrants is better than another and one type of educated, degree-holding person and their work is more important than another’s.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), another longtime champion of comprehensive immigration reform, also spoke against the STEM Jobs Act when she introduced a motion to recommit—to present a “clean STEM visa program” without “the unrelated measures” (the language eliminating the diversity lottery).  The motion eventually failed.
During her floor time, the Congresswoman wondered what a provision to eliminate the diversity lottery was doing in a STEM jobs bill at all.  As she said: “We support stem visas, they support stem visas, everybody on earth support stem visas. So why on earth aren’t we just voting on stem visas?”
Rep. Lofgren continued:

Eliminating the diversity visa has nothing to do with the STEM visa. It’s an unfortunate attack against minorities and it has no place in the STEM bill.  It’s also remarkably tone deaf considering the recent election just 3 weeks ago. Minorities and immigrant communities sent a powerful message to our friends on the other side of the aisle, our friends say they heard that message, they acknowledge the need to reach out to those communities and take a different tack with respect to immigration.
Actions speak louder than words. If you want to reach out to minorities, perhaps you shouldn’t start with a bill that eliminates the diversity visa. And if you want to reach out to immigrants, perhaps you shouldn’t start with a bill that pits immigrant communities against each other. The choice between stem immigrants and diversity immigrants is one we are being forced to make. We do not need to make it."

Rep. Guitierrez' Remarks in Opposition to Smith STEM Bill

Dueling STEM Bills

The House is expected to vote on Friday, November 30, 2012 on the “STEM Jobs Act,” introduced by Lamar Smith (R-Texas).  The bill would create 55,000 green cards for holders of advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math from U.S. institutions. The bill would also create a special temporary visa for foreign students planning to study STEM fields at U.S. universities, which would make it easier for them to become permanent residents upon graduation. 

Representative Zoe Lofgren (D San Jose) opposes the elimination of the visa lottery which is the source of the extra visa numbers used by the STEM Jobs Act.  Ms. Lofgren has introduced a Silicon Valley-friendly competing STEM green card bill that does not contain restrictionist  provisions.

Democrats worry that passage of the Smith bill in the lame duck session of Congress will weaken chances for comprehensive immigration reform measures that the administration has made a legislative priority in President Obama’s second term.

Microsoft Proposes New STEM Green Cards

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith told a live Brookings Institution and streamed video audience that the company proposed immigration reforms that would fund STEM education. The proposal is detailed in Microsoft's White Paper that was released on September 27, 2012, contemporaneously with the Brookings' event.

The two part proposal features:  

1. Invest more in STEM education by focusing on better teachers and higher standards in K-12 education, increasing the number of computer science courses in high schools and colleges, and focusing on the “college completion crisis” where half of American students drop-out before getting their degree. Smith called on Congress to put $500 million per year behind the effort, sending that money to the states based upon a competitive process.
2. Raising federal revenue to pay for the $500 million per year effort by insourcing skilled labor to fill those unfilled jobs today -- adding 20,000 new visas for workers with STEM skills at a cost of $10,000 each and 20,000 new green cards for workers with STEM skills at a cost of $15,000 each.

 

Live Webcast: STEM education and immigration reforms

On September 27, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings will host a forum on STEM education and immigration reforms and how these policy innovations can recharge American competitiveness and economic opportunity for current and future generations of workers. Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel of Microsoft, will deliver keynote remarks. Moderated by Vice President Darrell West, a panel of experts will discuss policy changes in education, immigration, among a variety of other areas, to enhance the American workforce’s competitiveness in a global economy.

Thursday, September 27, 2012
2:00 - 3:30 PM EDT

To register for the live webcast

To attend the event in person, click here.