没戏
WASHINGTON -- The House passed a Republican-led bill on Friday to increase
visas for foreign nationals who earn advanced degrees in the U.S. for
science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in a 245 to 139 vote that
fell mostly along party lines.
The STEM Jobs Act is unlikely to get a vote in the Democrat-controlled
Senate, and the White House officially came out in opposition to the bill on
Wednesday. But its passage in the House was also a harbinger for things to
come as the two parties map out a broad plan for dealing with immigration.
While Democrats opposed the bill because they want a more comprehensive
approach, Republicans argued a piecemeal process would be a better path
forward -- a wide gap in views that will be difficult to bridge.
"We need to break up the elephant into bite-size pieces," Rep. Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.), who voted for the STEM bill, told reporters Friday after a post-
vote press conference. "I want to break this up into passable bill by
passable bill."
The STEM Act is the first bill related to immigration visas to be considered
by Congress since the election, when Latinos chose Democrats by large
margins and, among other things, said they were put off by the Republican
party's attitude and policies on immigration.
Many in the Democratic party considered the 2012 vote a mandate for
comprehensive immigration reform. But it's a heavy order: the most recent
attempts at such reform -- most notably one led by then-President George W.
Bush, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) --
fell apart in 2007.
The reason for that initiative's failure, according to Issa, was that they
tried to go to big by tackling all immigration, instead of only a few items.
"What stopped it from happening was the size of it, the scope of it," he
said. "They said we had to do everything. Doing everything allowed somebody
to not like some part of anything."
The idea of a STEM bill is popular in both parties. But the question of how
and when to address the problem is another story. In issuing its statement
of administration policy opposing the bill, the White House officials said
it was the wrong time to work on such legislation as a broader bill is being
crafted.
"[T]he Administration strongly supports legislation to attract and retain
foreign students who graduate with advanced STEM degrees ... However, the
Administration does not support narrowly tailored proposals that do not meet
the President's long-term objectives with respect to comprehensive
immigration reform," the administration said Wednesday in its statement of
policy.
Congressional Democrats weren't pleased with the bill either. They, like the
White House, said the bill was a narrow effort when broader issues should
be addressed, such as how to deal with the estimated 11 million people in
the country without authorization.
They also criticized the Republicans' decision to eliminate the diversity
visa system -- often called the green card lottery -- to make way for
additional STEM visas. The White House mentioned, but did not focus on, the
issue of diversity visas in its statement of opposition, and did not respond
to a request for comment on whether they would agree to ending the program
in another immigration deal. Republicans argued that the diversity visa is
unnecessary.
As for where to move next on piece-by-piece immigration legislation, Issa
said Congress should take up agricultural visas. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho
), also speaking to reporters Friday after the press conference, said
Congress should pass additional, specific bills addressing young
undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children, and the
undocumented population as a whole.
Other proposals on immigration released this week also hold a partisan slant
. Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) unveiled the
Achieve Act, a watered down version of the Dream Act to help undocumented
young people who came to the U.S. as children. The bill's sponsors said they
have spoken with Democrats about the legislation, but so far it hasn't
gotten much, if any, Democratic support.
The Senate isn't likely to take up any immigration legislation until next
session, including the Achieve Act or the House-passed STEM Jobs Act. Brian
Fallon, a spokesman for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said the senator agrees
with the White House that the STEM bill is too narrow, although he supports
bills to extend visas to those individuals who apply.
Labrador said the Senate would refuse to agree no matter what the bill
included, even if it didn't eliminate other visas.
"They would have actually moved the ball and complained about something else
," he said. "That's what they do every single time."
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), a leader for comprehensive immigration reform,
told HuffPost after the STEM vote that he doesn't think Republicans' action
on the bill necessarily means anything for negotiations to come. He said he
still expects some Republicans, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and
Labrador, to lead on immigration and work with Democrats.
"I am not worried about the ability to change," Gutierrez said. "I think
there are many people that are ready to listen."