Don't know how reliable but read on Twitter that the s386 UC is next week and President Trump's EO on merit based immigration is on 8/10 /2020
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Don't know how reliable but read on Twitter that the s386 UC is next week and President Trump's EO on merit based immigration is on 8/10 /2020
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/20...sourcing-bill/
Some positive news about S 386 Bill.
Yeah there is something brewing for sure if Breitbart is starting to make noise about “outsourcers”. Anyway, honestly I have seen this drama before close to the end of a fiscal year. It has always ended in disappointment, so I ain’t gonna get my hopes up. This is still going to be posturing to make it look like they are looking to do something. I don’t see what incentive Lee has to get this bill through and why Durbin needs to accede to him if the expectation is the Left is going to take the Senate and the House. I think what’s going to happen is Lee is going to try the UC and Durbin will poison it on a technicality, old or new, and make a big show of throwing up his hands and declaring that he will do this unilaterally in the next session. Durbin has not done anything meaningful other than give winding avuncular speeches on immigration since 2013, so he will be damned if he lets someone else on the Right take credit for passing a major immigration law. If the Dems take the Senate he will be chairman of the powerful Sen Jud Committee and will have all the power to do his own thing. These men are not in it for the money though it does not hurt to get some. They are in it for the power trip and framing their legacy in US history. I don’t believe it for a sec when people say anyone cares about immigrants or their plight. We are just pawns in a bigger game.
... Getting off the soapbox! Enjoy the weekend!
I think your assessment is correct. I had pointed out previously that Sen. Durbin will take over under the assumption that Sen. Feinstein who is the current ranking member is 87 years old and most likely serving out the last 4 years of her senate career will cede the chairmanship to Sen. Durbin. She has previously been Intelligence and Rules committee chair and has never chaired the judiciary committee. If she chooses to take up the chair then there us a strong chance that Durbin will get immigration subcommittee.
Like someone else said here before, we have seen this movie many times before, hoping for a different ending. Unfortunately, in this movie back loggers are Represented by Gabbar Singh. Veeru (anti immigration) and Jai (employers & lobbyists) are Coming after the villains. Right now we are near the climax, where all of Veeru and Jai’s friends (breitbart, CIS, NASSCOM, immigration Basanti & Radha , etc.,) are coming into the picture. Ever time, We come out out of the theater we end up being emotionally drained.
The unjust thing I feel is that all our livelihoods including even those of USCs, are depending on a bunch of bickering 70+ year old farts on both sides in Congress and on the top instead of younger progressive voices. Unfortunately it’s going to be like that for the foreseeable future as they are so entrenched in their positions.
Judging by IV's tweets criticizing Durbin, looks like there is no deal on S386!
I am totally lost for words ... see IV twits for yourself here -
Ethnic cleansing... Segregationist... Bigots ... Human Traffickers? and of course Racist....
Guys, this is not advocacy by any stretch of imagination. If you have any concern for yourself, stop this nonsense.
I personally am not in a situation to devote any time or resources to lead advocacy. But I swear, if my situation changes, I will jump into this and I actually think this can be achieved literally within next administration's term. If some of you come together and form a new advocacy group, I will be happy to help whichever way I can but can't lead this at this time.
People are requesting him from past 8 months, some Indian people touched his feet and hailed Durbin in few other cases still he didn't melt even a single time. If something is going happen he will leak the information to the lawyers or he will introduce new bills. He is just killing the time with his nonsense theories and actions in senate floor. So I 'm okay to call him as racist or some other name, the max thing US can do for immigrants is they will not issue green cards.
If you really think calling someone racist, bigot, etc. who is probably going to be the most powerful Senator on Immigration in the next Congress, go ahead and muck it up for the rest of us. I am not here to say Durbin is the One and fall at his feet. I only argue that his priority is only DACA but he was wrong to appear in that forum where there were people holding out Green pieces of paper etc. If I were to guess if he had known that would happen, he would not have gone forward with that but he did appear there and cannot walk it back. I am sure there are other ways to work with him than the current way and part of it is the fault of many of us who don't have the time or wherewithal to participate in advocacy. The main issue is there are a large number of us who don't support IVs views or approach but will be colored by the same brush because we are from India, which is unfortunate. The usual response from IV supporters is that if you can't participate, then shut up and let us do our thing since you are not commiserating with our views. Why should I be forced to take up a position one way or the other? Even I don't shy away from criticizing Durbin for not doing anything, but really "If something is going happen he will leak the information to the lawyers" is baseless allegation. All Durbin tries to do like any other politician on the Hill is to use the situation to advance his own agenda, there is no other ulterior motive towards Indians or Chinese in particular. He won't budge until there are concessions on DACA, period and the admin won't budge until DACA is not part of the deal because that is one of the pillars that they want to tear down of Obama's legacy with the others being ACA, Environmental Protections, etc. Durbin is not going to let a Republican Senator pass an Immigration bill without DACA protections and I will eat humble crow if that happens.
++1 Totally agree. Diplomacy and advocacy is all about not digging a trench too deep for yourself that you can't get out of. Making enemies is never ideal. I understand IV's passion but sometimes tempering it is useful. I'm as guilty of not participating in these efforts though so I suggest this with abundance of caution.
Retroactive application of a prospective law is never easy. Numerous states have legalized marijuana yet even in those states they have found it hard to pass bills that would commute sentences of inmates already jailed for possession before such laws were enacted. The argument always has been that they were fully aware of the consequences of their action when the actual act was committed that led to the sentence.I am in no way comparing immigrants to criminals but merely providing an example of how it is difficult to go back and change things. We don't know Senator Durbin as well as some of the advocates that have worked with him and it is difficult to get a feel for his actual stand.There are however certain data points that we can refer to. He co-authored the Gof8 bill in 2013 which was really broad and far reaching and did give relief to backlogged candidates through various means of relief (recapture/dependent extension etc). Even then the backlog was mainly Indian yet he did not seem to have a problem with writing those provisions.I was unable to locate the article today but there was one last fall in Bloomberg where he said that "for a marginal improvement in immigration from China and India they are drastically reducing immigration from every other country in the world. How is this equity?" This is the basic stumbling block for the S386 concept since it was first floated in 2008. It is interesting that nobody seems to point a finger at the GOP for steadfastly refusing to even consider increasing the 140K number from 1990. The other well known fact is his disdain for the outsourcing model. He believes that that was not how the H-1B visa was supposed to work but given various competing interests he has not been able to do anything about it in spite of introducing multiple Bills. This country has a torrid history with racism and inequality and one must be sensitive when using such language. It is a credible argument if no caps existed in the first place and upon seeing Indians dominate the GC allocation an arbitrary 7% cap was placed to exclude them. In the current situation the 7% cap existed well before the large technology influx happened and the 7% cap became unfavorable but does not necessarily imply an unfair law. The December 2019 agreement I thought was an honest attempt by both sides and was widely supported. Hopefully there will be a resolution soon.
What is the wrong with discussing with other parties. That you are calling as leak. Based on American principles it is ok to have transparent negotiation that too immigration very much needed. If bill sponsors do not like way Durbin doing negotiation they have right to go up/down vote. It does not make sense to call Durbin racist. There is no use to anyone. If a few people calls him racist does not make him racist. Can you switch one vote by calling him racist? No US citizens will care that
I think IV decided that this bill will not pass in the current climate, putting more pressure on this way to get release a hold on the bill. In my opinion IV is exploring all the possible ways to defeat him in the next elections, so that they don't need to work with him again.
https://twitter.com/ckuck/status/129...6%3Fpage%3D585
Looks like deal was reached. UC this week?
Hope you watched JB's recent interviews. Especially the one he talked about his stay at a Hospital(Walter Reed Hospital). True, debates are nothing but for JB it's everything. When DJT asks about China, JB will start talking about the pancakes. All the lib medias are already fretting why the debates shouldn't happen. Interesting times ahead. Let's see if the debates happen.
I agree with what you are saying 100%. But those are the issues plaguing the top 10% of the country maybe. Almost all of us in this forum more or less are closer to the top 10% and hence we usually fall for the media coverage (which seldom highlights working class issues). Millions are facing potential evictions and we all know how the stimulus bill is coming along. Yes, a deal will be reached in the near future. But my hope is that millions are watching how the R's had to have their arms twisted to help the citizens of this country while the same folks were rushing to bailout the corporations. Not to say D's are any better, but they are certainly playing their hand well at this time. Of course things may change! but just the debates won't be enough to move the needle. A potential vaccine may help!
P.S. Early voting in some states starts even before the first debate is held.
From Greg Siskind just now
S.386 Update - There is a negotiated version of the bill that has been "hotlined". That means Senators will have to state objections today and then it will proceed to a unanimous consent. I will be posting a detailed summary of the language shortly.
I saw that thread and very informative. Does anybody know why IV is not the one breaking this news and everybody else is? Why are they still tweeting hate at Durbin?
I posted this as a reply to the thread but will copy it here
The clock starts now. IF it passes tomorrow then there are 55 days in FY20 for it to pass the house which is in recess till Sept 8. The timeline to pass/conference and send to President is 12 days after that (Sept 20). Beyond that date even if Trump refuses to sign it the Bill will become law after October1 (10 days after sent to WH) but date of enactment now will be FY23. The House has to come back in at some point this month to pass a COVID relief Bill and this vote may be taken then if everybody is in agreement.
The bill seems really complicated for a ton of people in Congress to read and digest it in the midst of the other critical bills that are being worked on. For that one reason, I feel the chances of it getting through the House are bleak. If it gets through the Senate tomorrow, it will be up to Durbin and other leading Democrats in the Senate to convince the House leadership to pass it. The House has a more acrimonious stance toward Republican bills since they have a majority and don't have to answer to anyone.
Here is our takeaway ...
https://www.qesehmk.org/forums/showt...5646#post65646
Why did Durbin put a hold on this bill and why did he reach a deal right now? This bill does not seem to have any significant changes. The signature piece that was to benefit the American workers based on 50/50 rule is offset by EAD post 2 years of i-140 approval. Maybe I am missing out on some key pieces. But most of the bill is as it was leaked a couple of months ago.
Looks like I could be wrong! Looks like they have been very creative by pushing the immediate scrapping of country caps to next year and thus all those extra 100K FB visa spillover will be good enough for "Do no harm"!! That's what makes me believe this has a decent chance of passing.
House will honor their senate whip's bill. I don't think there is any substantial resistance in house. Also this bill is actually very clean and straightforward. No new visas, toughning H1B abuse is how they will sell to GOP base. Dems will talk about protecting children.
As per IV, I am convinced they have been shut out of the process. Their language and confrontational approach has been a disgrace to highly qualified and law abiding EB-IC community.
Bill Summary from Siskind:
https://www.visalaw.com/siskind-summ...t-2020-852020/
UC at quarter till 3 apparently. Will know in a few min I guess.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?474523-1/senate-session
for anyone interested in watching live.
Wow Lee again objected because some of those amendments make it unable to pass (plain english - his party is not with him).
I think it's normal process. He will now try to get UC for S386 and Durbin will not object (I think).