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发帖数: 57 | 1 1) The Senate
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the sweeping immigration reform bill
authored by the Gang of 8 by a vote of 13-5 last night, setting up Senate
Floor action when the Senate returns the week of June 3 from Memorial Day
Recess. Three Republicans (Sens. Graham (R-S.C.), Flake (R-Ariz.), and Hatch
(R-Utah) joined all 10 Committee Democrats in voting for the bill. Hatch
voted for the bill after hashing out a compromise on H-1B visas with Sen.
Schumer (D-N.Y.), though the compromise does nothing to alleviate the
onerous provisions affecting the offshore IT firms. Hatch’s vote is bullish
for the bill securing close to 70 votes on the Senate Floor. We continue to
place a 60% probability that comprehensive immigration reform will be
signed into law by the end of the calendar year, with a bias that those odds
will increase following Senate passage. We believe that enactment of
comprehensive immigration reform will be a broad positive for the economy in
the long term. Sectors where immigration reform is likely to have a larger
incremental positive impact include: high-tech, retail, housing, hospitals,
and labs/pharma/pharmacies. We believe that the Senate will pass the bill by
the Fourth of July Recess. Once on the Senate Floor, amendments will likely
be held to a 60-vote threshold, which means that any controversial
amendments will likely be defeated, as it will be very difficult to alter in
the underlying bill. We continue to believe that the onerous language
affecting the offshore IT companies will be included in any Senate bill and
any final legislation. The House process will be much more fluid and
difficult for enactment, though we continue to believe that the House will
be able to pass immigration reform bills that will then be conferenced with
the Senate’s bill and signed into law by the end of the year.
2) Hatch-Schumer & H-1Bs.
In a positive for the high tech industry, Hatch’s market-based formula for
determining the annual increases in the number of H-1B visas was included.
Of particular angst to the labor community, the deal also softens the
requirements for companies in hiring H-1B visa holders over American
citizens. H-1B visas are for highly skilled workers (medicine, technology,
mathematics, engineering, etc.). The Senate bill would increase the current
number of H-1B visas from 65,000 to 110,000, which could be increased to 180
,000 visas based on demand for high-skilled jobs. The boost in H-1B visas is
welcome news to the high-tech sector, and medical industry (lab technicians
, nurses, and doctors).
3) The House.
In the coming weeks, there are two House legislative drafts likely on the H-
1B title (issues pertaining to offshore IT firms): the semi-official GOP
draft and the Gang of 8 House draft. The House GOP’s H-1B draft bill is
being led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and is expected any day. The Gang of 8
House group is being driven by Reps. Raul Labrador (R-ID), Mario Diaz-
Balart (R-FL), Sam Johnson (R-TX), John Carter (R-TX), Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
, Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and John Yarmuth (D-KY) and is
unlikely before the week of June 3. The House process will be much more
fluid than the Senate’s relatively orderly process. |
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