To sreddy
I am very optimistic that the Bill will pass this year. The standalone provisions of HR 3012 have no real opposition in either chamber and if not for Senator Grassley's hold for leverage on other reforms-this would have passed by now.
The advantage of this Bill as opposed to the Irish E-3 is that there is no explicit beneficiary country although India and China stand to gain by this at least in the short term. Future filing patterns which are bound to change with the Bill are hard to predict and even the imposition of a cut-off date for ROW is a wake-up call for other country nationals to not waste time and get on track with their GC process.
There is no visible opposition to Senator Grassley's amendment in the Senate.I am confident that the 3012 provisions are also popular among Senators as these provisions have been included in numerous Bills. Apart from the trio of Schumer,Grassley and Durbin,the other Senators have never been vociferous about the program and if these amendments are presented as improvements to the H-1B program then they will surely agree
If the Bill passes the Senate then it will head back to the House where again the major players are going to be in the Judiciary Committee especially Reps.Lamar Smith and Zoe Lofgren. I read somewhere in the early stages of the Bill that this was actually Rep Lofgren's idea (she had unsuccessfully introduced this Bill in 2008) and Rep Chaffetz who is a second term Congressman was roped in as a front man to secure Republican support.
The amended Bill should have no problems in the House Judiciary committee.In fact the amendments are very similar to reforms proposed by Rep Smith back in 2004
http://lamarsmith.house.gov/News/Doc...umentID=196580
I am confused somewhat because the language was included as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill signed by President Bush in 2004. The Bill is H.R 4818 and it is in Section J Title 4
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...lxcJ:e1755622:
I am not able to find evidence that this language was repealed in a future Congress. Even if Rep.Smith's language was not severe,in principle,he should not have objection to a similar amendment by Sen.Grassley.If the House JC OKs it then the House should concur and it will become law. I am not sure that the lack of legislative time will impact this Bill at all
A few wild cards
1.AILA-Their silence on this matter is concerning. Either they have resigned to acceptance or are trying to still influence the Bill's progress. The only connection I can think of is Rep.Lofgren who as a former immigration lawyer is probably affiliated with the AILA
2.Irish E-3.-If Sen.Schumer's concessions were to obtain passage of the Irish E-3 Bill,then the Senate Democratic Majority will wait for this to be passed and approved by the House before moving amended 3012
Relax and enjoy the summer!