Senate Pulls Immigration Bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, pulled the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill on June 7 so that the Senate could move to other business. He stated that the bill is not dead, but many deservers now question whether major immigration reform in the next two years is likely.
The bill was pulled after it failed to attract the simple majority vote required to limit debate and speed its passage. 38 Senate Republicans, 11 Democrats and an independent voted to block a final vote, with only 45 voting in favor (California Senator Boxer voted against and Senator Feinstein voted in favor). The June 9 edition of the Washington Post provides a nice explanation of the politics involved.
The technology industry continues to urge Congress to increase the new H1B visa quota limits and to provide additional immigrant visas to clear up long delays for employment-based immigrants. The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) urged the Senate to act on comprehensive immigration reform quickly.
President Bush was criticized for not providing stronger support to a reform package that the White House had originally developed with members of the Senate. The President is scheduled to meet with Republican senators at their weekly lunch meeting on Tuesday, June 12, to urge support for immigration reform. Perhaps the President's lobbying will revive the legislation.