Mooers Immigration » STEM

Senate Rejects STEM Bill

Mooers Immigration — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:42:22 +0000

The failure of the House of Representatives bill that purported to help graduates of US universities in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and math) demonstrates yet again that immigration posturing — not immigration solutions — continues to dominate Congress. The bill passed the House on party lines and contained landmines that House Republicans knew would be rejected by Democrats in the Senate.

Hopefully, when the new Congress is sworn in in January, leaders on both sides will roll up their sleeves in a determined effort to craft a comprehensive approach to America’s immigration mess.

STEM Jobs Act

Mooers Immigration — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:40:05 +0000

A new version of the STEM Jobs Act (H.R. 6429) that failed to pass the House in September could resurface for a vote this week. Heavy Democratic opposition helped initially defeat the bill, but Republicans are hopeful that the amended version will garner more support. A summary of the bill is available on the House Judiciary Committee’s website. Check out the following articles from NBC Latino and ABC News for more about each party’s stance on the bill:

http://nbclatino.com/2012/11/24/house-gops-stem-jobs-act-would-allow-students-from-abroad-to-bring-families-to-u-s/

http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/News/house-vote-tech-visas-week/story?id=17795001#.ULKwiDJYvV0

STEM Visas

Mooers Immigration — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:30:01 +0000

The end of the Congressional session saw a flurry of activity surrounding the current backlog of long-delayed Green Cards for Indian and Chinese nationals who have been working in the US for years, primarily in the IT industry. Neither the Democrats’ nor the Republicans’ competing bills to increase the number of visas available to foreign STEM graduates gets at the heart of the problem, namely the fact that Congress is ill-equipped to respond in any kind of timely fashion to America’s changing economy. The Republican solution comes at the expense of the diversity visa lottery, while the Democrats claim new Green Cards should be allocated for advanced degree graduates of US institutions and should not impact the availability of visas under the diversity lottery. Each side feels the other’s approach is wrong-headed. However, they are both missing the point. What is most needed is a body of experts who can take Green Card issuance out of politics and develop target numbers that can go up and down depending on the needs of American industry and business.

Information about the bill introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) can be found here: http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr6429