S386 GOP Politics and Sen. Durbin

[bloddy1]

This is unbelievably sane compromise. IMHO the chance of this passing senate and congress is almost 80-90%.

I think Dick Durbin is the main architect of this compromise and has shown his genius in reaching this compromise and thus is palatable (spelling?) to majority of senate and congress.


This bill will make backlog a universal pain and thus in 5-10 years it will force US to raise overall GC cap to 250K. And we all must recognize Durbin's genius in this.
[/COLOR]

Amen to that Bro, Completely Agree. This benefits the FAMILIES that are living day in day out in limbo. Whatever 'poison pills' the detractors are talking - 50:50 etc.,. is for Big corps which is workable, they can get around it by creating umbrella of companies. But honestly, even if not and helps the families, we should all support with 'blood & sweat' to get it pushed through .

Because the bottom line is the bill has 24-months before it needs to be re-introduced in House & Senate. The likelihood of this bill passing in election year 2020 is 5% at best. So early 2021 in new administration is when it will be passed and effective fiscal 2022. So any real benefit is not until Oct 2021/2022 but it would still be a windfall for anyone who is Dec 2009 priority date & beyond.

[NJMavarick]

Amen to that Bro, Completely Agree. This benefits the FAMILIES that are living day in day out in limbo. Whatever 'poison pills' the detractors are talking - 50:50 etc.,. is for Big corps which is workable, they can get around it by creating umbrella of companies. But honestly, even if not and helps the families, we should all support with 'blood & sweat' to get it pushed through .

Because the bottom line is the bill has 24-months before it needs to be re-introduced in House & Senate. The likelihood of this bill passing in election year 2020 is 5% at best. So early 2021 in new administration is when it will be passed and effective fiscal 2022. So any real benefit is not until Oct 2021/2022 but it would still be a windfall for anyone who is Dec 2009 priority date & beyond.

24 months? This bill has a chance until 2020 and after that it will have to be re-introduced. The bill in its current would be implemented with a start date of October 2020. The goal is to have it passed this year and probably in the next couple of months.

[bloddy1]

The goal is to have it passed this year and probably in the next couple of months.

See below from a chinese translation;
Solemnly declare that the content of this article is the copyright of the World Journal, and may not be arbitrarily reproduced, reproduced or copied without permission.
In the past few months, in the Senate of Congress, the S386, which attempted to pass the "Unanimous Consent" voting agenda, canceled the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act. (Dick Durbin) objected to being blocked again, but has recently raised concerns.


According to Indian lobbying organization Immigration Voice on its social platform in November, S386 sponsor senator Mike Lee will try to reach the Senate "consensus" vote, and S386 is expected to pass in the Senate two weeks later . Because the opposing senator Dick Durbin and the sponsor Mark Lee are making progress, it seems that Durbin has been persuaded to reach an agreement with the proposed lawmaker Mark Lee and no longer oppose the passage of S386.

Earlier, Voices of Indian Immigrants called on supporters to call Dr. Durbin's office to put pressure on him, saying that Mr. Durbin blocked S386 because of "hating Indians" and so on. Is Dr. Durbin pressured to relax and start thinking about not blocking S386? The Chinese opponents are very concerned. The organizer once again appeals to all interested Chinese skilled immigrants, foreign student opponents, and Chinese who are engaged in high-tech in the future. Call the relevant members of the parliament to prevent S386 from voting through the "sense consensus" of the Senate fast track. S386 Public Hearing procedures, enter the normal process of public debate in Congress, to discern the truth, rather than quietly pass through the so-called "consensus", because the S386 proposal to cancel the national quota of professional immigrants is very immigrants Important proposal.

Frank Tsang, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said that he believes that S386 will not be easy to pass because the level of influence is very large. Once the implementation is completed, H-1B skilled worker applicants in other countries will be in the foreseeable future, all blocked by as many as 300,000 Indian applicants waiting to be scheduled, because the total quota has not increased. As far as he knows, for large high-tech companies, the stability of the personnel of the company's employees is very important. If employees need to stay in the company, unresolved identity issues can be a constraint. On the one hand, the salary company has the final say and cannot win more. Secondly, the identity issue is unresolved and cannot be moved while waiting for the green period, so it is not easy to change companies. Therefore, the current schedule is pending, which is more beneficial for high-tech companies to control talent.

He thought that high-tech companies might not really support the S386 adoption. These H-1B visa holders are slowly waiting for the schedule. It is not in the interests of the company that their status is limited and they are unlikely to require higher salaries.

Attorney Zang pointed out that even if the Senate has the opportunity to pass the S386 bill, it will not be easy for the president to pass. Therefore, it is unlikely that S386 will be passed before the end of the year. In the next election year, it will be even easier to pass such a controversial bill. In short, in the final analysis, the reason for the problem is not enough green card visas. What is needed is to change the structure of immigration, increase the number of professionals with professional skills that are more favorable to the United States, and financially-benefiting EB professional immigrants to help the United States develop the economy.

[idliman]

Found an interesting read countering S386 by an user lobbying in a forum.

If u r in h1b today, its a pain for u to switch ur job due to h1 transfer hassles. however, it is equally difficult for ur employer to replace u bcoz of the same h1 transfer hassle. its not easy to replace u with an OPT either bcoz they have to file a h1 in a yr or two and it comes with uncertainity of lottery and they have to maintain minimum wage levels. both of u r in a status quo situation.

u get ur EAD and are now free to work for anyone and u feel it gives u a better bargaining position with your employer to get a raise to 90k. However, ur employer now has a much bigger pool of readily available talent with I140 EAD to choose from which wasnt the case earlier. the increase in resource pool for the employer is >>> the number of job options available for a single individual who has to look into multiple other constraints (kids school, relocation, wife job location, etc). In the IT industry with fast paced technology changes, its far more beneficial for an employer to replace a senior guy than try to retain the talent. its advantage employers who can further drive down benefits.

A majority of the beneficiaries if s386 goes through will feel the pain once reality hits as the now rare and difficult to get GC is a common commodity which has lost its sheen and will not have the protection of minimum wage rules of h1b.

What we have now is a mess, but what is proposed will make it worse.

The argument is people without current skills will lose (with a spin). Isn't it the whole point of free market economy. Definitely there are some scared people with GCs or Citizenship afraid of the consequences of S386. However, for a non-immigrant waiting for a Green Card and worried of his kids aging out, anything to improve the situation is good. For them it is basic necessity. However, some people (like the user quoted above) with GCs/Citizenship are afraid that their dessert pudding is being taken away.

[NJMavarick]

---Copy paste from another forum----

A - No Harm clause removed.

B. Instead of a 3 year transition, a 9 year transition is being proposed. Year 1 - 30% reserved for ROW(42,000 if using 140k as the base), Year 2 - 25% reserved (35,000), Year 3 - 20% (28,000), Year 4 - 15% reserved (21,000 green cards), Year 5 and 6 - 10% (14,000), Year 7,8,9 reserve 5% or 7000 green cards for ROW. More green cards are given to offset the no harm clause and a longer transition period.

C. For seven years 2020 - 2026, about 4400 green cards reserved for Nurses and other occupations (Rand Paul and Perdue Amendment)

D. Effective date for the 50/50% amendement put by Sen. Durbin to start 3 years after enactment of the act. If signed by President in say April 1, 2020, then to start on April 1, 2023 or thereabouts.

E. People who have approved I-140 for over 2 years can apply for I-485 and receive EAD/AP travel authorization. Earlier version it was 270 days.

F. USCIS can charge money to do E.

[gs1968]

---Copy paste from another forum----

A - No Harm clause removed.

B. Instead of a 3 year transition, a 9 year transition is being proposed. Year 1 - 30% reserved for ROW(42,000 if using 140k as the base), Year 2 - 25% reserved (35,000), Year 3 - 20% (28,000), Year 4 - 15% reserved (21,000 green cards), Year 5 and 6 - 10% (14,000), Year 7,8,9 reserve 5% or 7000 green cards for ROW. More green cards are given to offset the no harm clause and a longer transition period.

C. For seven years 2020 - 2026, about 4400 green cards reserved for Nurses and other occupations (Rand Paul and Perdue Amendment)

D. Effective date for the 50/50% amendement put by Sen. Durbin to start 3 years after enactment of the act. If signed by President in say April 1, 2020, then to start on April 1, 2023 or thereabouts.

E. People who have approved I-140 for over 2 years can apply for I-485 and receive EAD/AP travel authorization. Earlier version it was 270 days.

F. USCIS can charge money to do E.

The main reason for the increase to the 2 year waiting period is to prevent STEM OPTs from filing I-140 and getting EADs before the 2 year period allowed for them. The No Harm clause was never clearly explained as to how it was going to be implemented. All it said was that nobody would have to wait longer than what they would under the current system. The delay in the 50/50 rule is probably to give the companies more time to restructure their work force. Maybe you can clarify if that rule applied to only initial filings or to renewals also. These are not minor edits as claimed especially the 2 year waiting period for EADs which I think is the main sticking point. Senator Durbin does not want to lose STEM talent from other parts of the world by increasing their wait time and although an increase in GCs would have been more ideal at least the ability to apply for EADs would be enough of a carrot to let them stay till further reforms are enacted sometime in the future

[NJMavarick]

Agree! D and E are going to be problematic and given the fact that H1B numbers are not going to be increased, you may have a lot of ROW folks who may not be able to stay which in my opinion levels the playing field.

[abcx13]

I think it is a unanimous consent request next week

I hope it passes and can be reconciled with HR1044.

I* posted this on their FB over the weekend blaming Durbin again, so who knows what will happen:

#UPDATE #DANGER #Beware #Treachery #SABOTAGE

Dear Friends,

As you might have been anticipating, Senator Lee has been working hard to work with his colleagues to get the amended #S386 where it can pass the Senate. To further that effort, he has been consulting with the Senate Offices that were not consulted during the negotiations with Senator Dick Durbin. As the result, these Senate Offices have requested MINOR changes to the Durbin Amendment to accommodate concerns by Senate Democrats, Republicans and Federal agencies like DHS. These changes were communicated to Senator Durbin’s office yesterday.

We believe that these are fair edits to the bill with changing the three-year transition period of 15%, 10%, 10% reserved for people enjoying special treatment for the “special skill” of being born in small countries to a nine-year transition period of 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%, 10%, 5%, 5%, 5% for the same people. As you can see, we made further concessions just so all sides could reach a consensus and the bill could pass.

Sadly, it seems as if instead of negotiating with Senator Lee in good faith, Senator Durbin has chosen to leak the substance of these changes to vested interests like shady immigration lawyers - who are minting obscene amounts of money by filing endless H1-B renewals - over the bodies of our members who are living as indentured servants and dying in the backlog - while widows, children and spouses who have spent decades in America self-deport. Some lawyers are now attacking the minor changes necessary to get #S386 done ( https://twitter.com/ckuck/status/1233173615673085952 ).

We will not be fooled - minor changes should not derail a bill that ends inequality, injustice, and racism in our immigration law. People who claim to be for immigrants who oppose the bill because of changes made for administrability purposes are showing they are truly for-profit racists.

If Senator Durbin does not negotiate in good faith regarding administrability changes requested by Senate offices that were not in the room when he made changes to the bill, we will hold Senator Durbin accountable for killing the bill. As we announced in our message dated 2nd October, 2019, we have known Senator Durbin’s prejudice towards Indian immigrants all along. We know that he did not add his amendment as a good-faith effort, but rather, he injected the poison pill into the bill. And his actions are proving us right, and the whole world will witness that Senator Dick Durbin is nothing but a racist who wants the systematic ethnic cleansing of Indian immigrants from the United States. We ask Senator Durbin to not ask Doctors to serve on the front lines to save lives in America if he doesn’t acknowledge their basic humanity.

In order to combat any mis-information and rumors being spread by lawyers, racists and other vested interests, we have no choice now but to release to you the latest amendment, so you can see for yourself how minor these changes are: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kyzfnj2fwjhqkwp/

In the near future, we will find out if we were right all along about Senator Durbin on October 2nd ( https://www.facebook.com/…/we-will-n...4882897911251/ ), or if Senator Durbin will live up to his own word- if he is honest and has any integrity based on his words on December 18th - when he promised to work in good faith to get #S386 done ( https://www.c-span.org/video/… )

Please be prepared to follow all action items diligently and precisely. Do no more and no less than we request of you.

Team IV

PS: Please share this post.

[qesehmk]

I hope it passes and can be reconciled with HR1044.

I* posted this on their FB over the weekend blaming Durbin again, so who knows what will happen:

Wow this letter is a shame. If I were any senator - democrat or republican - I would be inclined a little less to vote in favor of the bill.

[gs1968]

To abcx13
There are differing versions of what actually happened but I am not sure why they are stressed about it. The amendment would have become public anyway unless they wanted to sneak it through before any meaningful opposition built up for this. Anyway the cat is out of the bag but I am confident that Sen. Durbin's pragmatism will prevail and a solution will be found. Hypocritically they keep pointing fingers at Sen.Durbin but did not mention who the GOP objectors were. Thanks to Twitter we know Sen.Cotton was one of them.

[srimurthy]

To abcx13
There are differing versions of what actually happened but I am not sure why they are stressed about it. The amendment would have become public anyway unless they wanted to sneak it through before any meaningful opposition built up for this. Anyway the cat is out of the bag but I am confident that Sen. Durbin's pragmatism will prevail and a solution will be found. Hypocritically they keep pointing fingers at Sen.Durbin but did not mention who the GOP objectors were. Thanks to Twitter we know Sen.Cotton was one of them.

The letter and bickering just means that nothing may pass this week.

[abcx13]

The letter and bickering just means that nothing may pass this week.

Yes, this is what I fear. Why post that attack on Durbin if you had a deal? And that rant is totally incoherent - not sure what Durbin screwed up or what he takes issue with.

[gten20]

The letter and bickering just means that nothing may pass this week.

Yes, this is what I fear. Why post that attack on Durbin if you had a deal? And that rant is totally incoherent - not sure what Durbin screwed up or what he takes issue with.

Exactly, this is what IV fears and their post is a 'We told you so' alibi. It feels like they lack emotional strength and composure. I don't know how they don't get it that this is not a good look for them, if they want to work with politicians. I still feel they have the best shot for getting something done and the biggest voice for Indian EB Immigrants, but I do not understand some of their actions. Only time will tell.

[GCMirage]

What is wrong with IV? It is common sense that one should do NO HARM when dealing with senior politicians/senators, if they cannot make friends atleast don't make an enemy out of him. It is hard to wrap one's head around the allegation that Senator Durbin is anti India because he knows very well that there is a large contingent of Indians in Chicagoland and in Bloomington who lean mostly democratic. One other reason not to pick fights with a senior senator is, he is not going anywhere i.e., I don't see him losing his seat anytime soon, so why burn bridges.... What am I missing?

[qesehmk]

dick durbin is one of the most liberal pro immigrant senators in the senate. Given that FB is much larger than EB he has to weigh both sides.
Secondly, I suspect his mom is lithuanian jew. Jews usually like Indian people. So if my guess is correct he will at least not be an anti-india person as IV makes it out.

As others have said - I do wish IV actually succeeds for the sake of all EB backlogged folks. But they did come across extremely entitled. One must understand immigration is privilege not a right. Also one must understand their own power vis a vis key players and accordingly create a strategy that fulfils everybody's interest.

IV showed bad faith and pinned blame on senator durbin even before the vote. I do not know when the vote is scheduled. But I do think a simple campaign of sending personal emails and stories to Durbin's office would have been the most effective strategy.

[NJMavarick]

Wow this letter is a shame. If I were any senator - democrat or republican - I would be inclined a little less to vote in favor of the bill.

True! However, no one knows how much of direct access does IV have or is IV even on the negotiating table? This certainly is questionable tactics.

[abcx13]

Breitbart (yes, biased I know) quotes a Lee spokesman as saying as he has "no immediate plans for a UC".

https://www.breitbart.com/immigratio...ing-companies/

[GhostWriter]

Q
This is not very helpful or fair.

1. The change for legal immigration has been tried over several administrations now, across both parties. If and when anything passes it will likely be because of bipartisan support. This bill is also hugely supported by both parties. People looking for change need both parties, they currently are far from having voting rights. You are expressing and mixing your personal political views with a bipartisan cause. For rest of us, we can have strong right/left/center political views but they are only theoretical. We are largely globally disenfranchised residents who don't get to vote anywhere in the world.

2. I V imo is a role model of advocacy and bringing change in democracy especially in today’s world. They have not made the government, the citizens or any of the parties their enemy and worked with both democrats and republicans regardless of who has been in power. The recent frustration against Durbin is only against one individual exercising his veto and not against a party, this is a huge distinction to be made. One can debate how wise it is, imo it is completely fair. I understand you disagree and that is fine too.

3. Purely with respect to labelling right wing as racist or left wing as communist is lazy thinking and not political analysis. There is fringe on both sides. They do not represent the party or the policies no matter how much opposite side claims.

4. I liked the recommendation you gave to someone else last week -
"Perhaps good idea to check 3 gates of speech !! Is it true? Is it kind? Does it improve silence?".
I am not sure your personal political views overlaid over immigration bill that needs bipartisan support or your views on I V from 10+ years ago pass these tests. Just imagine people with just 2 years over your priority date have spent over 10 years more than you in the wait. It is pure luck, have compassion for the not so lucky ones instead of anger for those who can help them, be it politicians you dislike or I V. A humble request. That would also be the liberal approach.

These right wing nuts don't deserve any room for doubt. They are racist. Period. Never ever mistake them for anything else.

Their boss is on record saying very clearly that immigration from Norway is good but others not so.

They are not fighting for little guy in Pennsylvania; they are fighting with an imaginary cultural attack from not-white people. If these guys were indeed worried about the little guy in PA then they would have fought for him long time back when millions of low paying manufacturing jobs moved to China. Even today most of Trump stuff is made in China. (which by the way I am all for. I am just pointing out the hypocrisy).

The liberal+libertarian masonic system of American government has created unprecedented wealth for all sections of the society here in the US. These extreme right wing morons if unchecked are going to ruin it. As far as immigrants go, I can't stress it enough, you can use republicans all you want. But, while there certainly are many good republicans; the fact of the matter is, the racists by and large belong to GOP.

[qesehmk]

Ghost

My observation about right wing folks has nothing to do with IV. They are two separate issues.

Q
This is not very helpful or fair.

1. The change for legal immigration has been tried over several administrations now, across both parties. If and when anything passes it will likely be because of bipartisan support. This bill is also hugely supported by both parties. People looking for change need both parties, they currently are far from having voting rights. You are expressing and mixing your personal political views with a bipartisan cause. For rest of us, we can have strong right/left/center political views but they are only theoretical. We are largely globally disenfranchised residents who don't get to vote anywhere in the world.

2. I V imo is a role model of advocacy and bringing change in democracy especially in today’s world. They have not made the government, the citizens or any of the parties their enemy and worked with both democrats and republicans regardless of who has been in power. The recent frustration against Durbin is only against one individual exercising his veto and not against a party, this is a huge distinction to be made. One can debate how wise it is, imo it is completely fair. I understand you disagree and that is fine too.

3. Purely with respect to labelling right wing as racist or left wing as communist is lazy thinking and not political analysis. There is fringe on both sides. They do not represent the party or the policies no matter how much opposite side claims.

4. I liked the recommendation you gave to someone else last week -
"Perhaps good idea to check 3 gates of speech !! Is it true? Is it kind? Does it improve silence?".
I am not sure your personal political views overlaid over immigration bill that needs bipartisan support or your views on I V from 10+ years ago pass these tests. Just imagine people with just 2 years over your priority date have spent over 10 years more than you in the wait. It is pure luck, have compassion for the not so lucky ones instead of anger for those who can help them, be it politicians you dislike or I V. A humble request. That would also be the liberal approach.

[srimurthy]

I guess it would have made more sense to highlight the scenarios and impact by IV to Durbin than calling names.
We could have stated a few examples, showing people from India coming in 2007-2010, with PDs in 2009 to 2011 having one or two year olds, still do not have EADs and SSNs for dependents.
The kids would be around 13 to 15 and getting into college in a couple of years with no SSNs and can't get any internship or work experience.

And not counting the people on H1, who can't start a business with any ideas they have and with those 10 to 15 years gaps the ideas may now be longer feasible. For an enterprise to establish and flourish time is of essence.
Where as person from another country around the same time with a same PD is already greened in 2011 or 2012 and changed to a citizen if wanted to by 2016 or so. The kids are also citizens.
They can start and explore any ideas for business ventures from 2011 itself with EADs. and from 2012 or 2016 can also sponsor parents for GCs in the family category. So this anyway indirectly adds to the GC factor.

So the US economy itself is loosing that the people in backlog can't start business increasing employment and also the kids who grew up here all along can't contribute back from what they learned.

[abcx13]

https://www.facebook.com/notes/immig...6241826108688/

[qesehmk]

IV has clearly chosen its side and is trying to make a deal with the devil. A deal is long overdue. But using outright stupid phrases like Durbin-Widow is incredibly stupidly populist. It is noteworthy that such vilification was not never inflicted on Nebrasca Senator Chuck Grassley who is about as rabidly anti-immigrant senator as there ever was. Neither such scorn was reserved for AILA who just last week provided a very twisted way of opposing S386.

So why only Sen. Durbin is being singled out?

I think IV is being played by the right wing in rallying Indian immigrant community against democrats and with republicans in this election year. I personally don't care what your political views are. But choosing sides during an immigration battle and that too choosing the side that is so clearly anti-immigrant does not bode well for S386 or any other future bill. This letter is a slap in the face of Zoe Lofgren the very first politician and a democrat who tabled a bill that asked for removing country caps. This letter conveniently forgets all the efforts by the republicans to stop any immigration reforms under both George W Bush and Obama.

It is important to take a stand against injustice. But while doing so IV seems to be getting trapped in partisan politics. They continue to be naive. It hardly surprises me. Heck they wouldn't know head or tail of immigration without us. But that's a debate for another day. As per today - do call Durbin but if you want to be effective, clearly say that you don't agree with IV in vilifying him personally but that you are asking for his unconditional support for S386 AS IS.

He and every other senator - can and will do what s/he will. But don't get played by partisan politics.

[NJMavarick]

IV has clearly chosen its side and is trying to make a deal with the devil. A deal is long overdue. But using outright stupid phrases like Durbin-Widow is incredibly stupidly populist. It is noteworthy that such vilification was not never inflicted on Nebrasca Senator Chuck Grassley who is about as rabidly anti-immigrant senator as there ever was. Neither such scorn was reserved for AILA who just last week provided a very twisted way of opposing S386.

So why only Sen. Durbin is being singled out?

I think IV is being played by the right wing in rallying Indian immigrant community against democrats and with republicans in this election year. I personally don't care what your political views are. But choosing sides during an immigration battle and that too choosing the side that is so clearly anti-immigrant does not bode well for S386 or any other future bill. This letter is a slap in the face of Zoe Lofgren the very first politician and a democrat who tabled a bill that asked for removing country caps. This letter conveniently forgets all the efforts by the republicans to stop any immigration reforms under both George W Bush and Obama.

It is important to take a stand against injustice. But while doing so IV seems to be getting trapped in partisan politics. They continue to be naive. It hardly surprises me. Heck they wouldn't know head or tail of immigration without us. But that's a debate for another day. As per today - do call Durbin but if you want to be effective, clearly say that you don't agree with IV in vilifying him personally but that you are asking for his unconditional support for S386 AS IS.

He and every other senator - can and will do what s/he will. But don't get played by partisan politics.

I am neither a member of IV nor do I support the language they are using. However, there is no doubt that Durbin is the roadblock here and Lee has kept his promise of bringing the republicans on board. The only person who is trying to derail the bill is Durbin and why? Does he not know about children aging out or people dying in the backlog? IV had to come out and call him out considering Lee did his part. I really do not think they are playing partisan over here. Being the minority whip, its Durbin's responsibility to brings the Ds on board but he is clearly delaying the bill for reasons unknown.

I agree with you that we do have a few on the Republican side who are clearly anti-immigrant but the Ds are no saints either. They clearly favor the undocumented over the legals!

[qesehmk]

NJ thanks. Just think for a second what Unanimous Consent (UC) is. UC is a way to fast track something. Now on a contencious bill such as immigration why would anyone try for UC? The only reason is they want to give this a lip service.

So who is bluffing here. It's the republicans. And who is the sucker. It's IV.

I am neither a member of IV nor do I support the language they are using. However, there is no doubt that Durbin is the roadblock here and Lee has kept his promise of bringing the republicans on board. The only person who is trying to derail the bill is Durbin and why? Does he not know about children aging out or people dying in the backlog? IV had to come out and call him out considering Lee did his part. I really do not think they are playing partisan over here. Being the minority whip, its Durbin's responsibility to brings the Ds on board but he is clearly delaying the bill for reasons unknown.

I agree with you that we do have a few on the Republican side who are clearly anti-immigrant but the Ds are no saints either. They clearly favor the undocumented over the legals!

[NJMavarick]

NJ thanks. Just think for a second what Unanimous Consent (UC) is. UC is a way to fast track something. Now on a contencious bill such as immigration why would anyone try for UC? The only reason is they want to give this a lip service.

So who is bluffing here. It's the republicans. And who is the sucker. It's IV.

Well, on one side we have people who think that such a small bill would never be considered by Mitch as a candidate for floor voting so UC is the way to go and on the other we have your opinion which is that this is a contentious immigration bill which should not be taken up via UC due to the sensitivity of the topic and floor voting is the way to go.

Honestly, I think IV has just become a front to relay the news. There are bigger forces (i.e. Tech companies) at work who do not want this endless cycle of extensions because of the cost involved and on the other we have the notorious ITServe alliance who would feel empowered with the recent lawsuit win against USCIS.

This is an election year and Mitch is already busy with judicial appointments and it would take a miracle for this bill to come to the floor for voting. Lee may have already explored that route and he definitely seems committed to get this bill done. In conclusion, if Durbin negotiates in all fairness, he should be able to work this out. The ball is in his court. I hope you have seen the video of Durbin mocking the backlogged folks in one of his townhalls. What do you have to say about that?