STEM Visa Considered for a House Vote Next Week
By Raisa Camargo, Voxxi
After the Thanksgiving break, Congressional members in the House will consider voting on a Republican-backed STEM Visa bill next week adding to their list of legislative priorities during the lame-duck session.
The STEM Jobs Act was introduced by House ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), this fall as an effort to increase the number of green cards to persons with advanced degrees in science, math, engineering and technology.
The House bill is called the H.R. 6429, and an estimated 55,000 visas would be granted under the legislation.
The STEM Visa bill failed to pass the House in September because of a suspension rule that required a two-thirds approval. The suspension rule is only made by the Speaker of the House and is usually used to quickly pass non-controversial bills. This time around, under normal rules, the legislation has a better chance of passage through a simple majority or 218 of the votes.
The popularity of STEM jobs has increased in the past 10 years.
“Growth in STEM jobs was three times greater than that of non-STEM jobs, and STEM jobs are expected to continue to grow at a faster rate than other jobs in the coming decade,” according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA).
An area of contention for Democrats is that the proposed legislation would eliminate the diversity visa, often
After the Thanksgiving break, Congressional members in the House will consider voting on a Republican-backed STEM Visa bill next week adding to their list of legislative priorities during the lame-duck session.
The STEM Jobs Act was introduced by House ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), this fall as an effort to increase the number of green cards to persons with advanced degrees in science, math, engineering and technology.
The House bill is called the H.R. 6429, and an estimated 55,000 visas would be granted under the legislation.
The STEM Visa bill failed to pass the House in September because of a suspension rule that required a two-thirds approval. The suspension rule is only made by the Speaker of the House and is usually used to quickly pass non-controversial bills. This time around, under normal rules, the legislation has a better chance of passage through a simple majority or 218 of the votes.The popularity of STEM jobs has increased in the past 10 years.
“Growth in STEM jobs was three times greater than that of non-STEM jobs, and STEM jobs are expected to continue to grow at a faster rate than other jobs in the coming decade,” according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA).
An area of contention for Democrats is that the proposed legislation would eliminate the diversity visa, often