This hotline news had come in December. That's when it might have been put on hotline. But there is no news of hotline now.Originally Posted by redsox2009
This hotline news had come in December. That's when it might have been put on hotline. But there is no news of hotline now.
This news did not come as hotline news, it clearly says Bill is placed in Hotline Process. I don't know if the bill in senate will change if hold is placed or it will no more holds good as Hotline process.
Anyway lets cross our fingers and hope for the best..........................
It says it was put on hotline process but does not tell when. It is most likely referring to December.
I don't think the senate rules allow hotlining a bill that is going to be amended....unless ofcourse 'uncleji' is now willing to let it pass without his LCA changes.
There is no hotlining going on. All the hoopla was based on some crazy comments on Trackitt. Even if the bill is hotlined ( first of all big if ) it is brought up to be voted at the end of the day. Also hotline is reserved for non controversial bills.
It is the stress causing all this...first there was the rumour that it is getting attached to Cybersecurity...then it was that it is being clubbed with EB5....then that it has become part of the 70 amendments on S3414.
And now Hotlining.
"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes"
Ron also posted in his forum that heard Reid's interview today morning and that Reid,Speaker and President had just finished discussions about some important bills and one of them was about continuing government funding for programs like EB5 through March.
It now takes the pressure off congress to stay in session and most of the Senators will be leaving early on Friday for the month long recess.
HR3012 would have to be taken up in September.
"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes"
Senate concluded its business for today.No mention of HR3012 tomorrow either .If you were watching CSPAN Reid sounded off on a ton of things including more discussion on Cybersecurity and sanctions.
Friday is the last working day.
"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes"
We shall wait and see what happens in September when Senate reconvenes for a short time. Frankly speaking, I don't have lot of hopes for this bill to make it during September session since they may be talking about funding the Government for next six months which may eat up all of their time.
Lame duck could be possible. But it will again depend on election results.
I am not losing hopes though because I feel that there is something cooking back door. I feel when Sen. Grassley released the hold, it would have been for some reason. He did not need to lift the hold if he just wanted to kill the bill. My gut feeling says that there is something going on. Lets keep the hope alive.
^Agreed. No point lifting the hold if it was going to die anyway. And if someone else wanted to kill it, I suspect they would have voiced their concern/view to Grassley.
I hope it passes in Sep .The reason Grassley lifted his hold was because he has been trying to pass stringent Audit laws for the past decade.With this bill he sensed a opportunity to get that done and then a compromise was reached with the group lobbying for the bill.
If not for altruistic reasons, hope atleast out of this give and take they get back to the negotiating table in Sep.
"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes"
On ** site, one of the senior members posted asking members to write to companies to request them to write to senators to pass bill. So looks like advocacy efforts are still ongoing... That dashes any hopes for senate passage today. We have to wait for September.
Hopefully all of the below especially Chaffetz get re-elected. Plus all the key Senators supporting the Bill. Immigration is the only area where I'm a "righty".
Rep Chaffetz, Jason
Rep Flake, Jeff
Rep Goodlatte, Bob
Rep Griffin, Tim
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V.
Rep Holt, Rush D.
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr.
Rep Lofgren, Zoe
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B.
Rep Moran, James P.
Rep Smith, Lamar
Rep Thompson, Glenn
That seems like a negative thing to me. At this stage, if you have to ask again for lobbying that means it is stuck somewhere. If that is indeed the case, chances of passing this in September does not seem high.
or I guess they are starting early on their lobbying efforts with the next congress!! Last few weeks were really interesting but it did turn out to be a anti-climax & I guess its R.I.P. for HR 3012.
That could be right. It is really disappointing to see year long effort being wasted, but I guess that is how the life is. If simple bills like this can not pass, I do not see anything on legal immigration getting passed.
Got to agree with some of the assessments reg. this bill made in the above posts. The prospects now are extremely extremely dim. The humongous support base it had prior to the lifting of the hold, I believe, does not exist now. For one, AILA will not support the bill with amendments. They just abhor Grassley. I am not sure if US Chamber of Commerce is interested in it any longer either. That is basically due to the amendment being perceived as not business friendly.
If a simple technical bill like this cannot pass congress, I don't know what will. There is no point introducing immigration related legislations like STEM when there is absolutely no chance of passing.
I second that. The Senate is deeply mired in electoral politics usually and more so during election year and that is why you see a stand-still in Washington. I mean, if the cybersecurity bill which is actually a bill of national interest and importance could not make it through Senate, we should just forget about HR 3012 going through the Senate which is of least importance to the Senators.
For things to improve in Senate, they need to have some major constitutional amendments and change rules of holding the bills, limiting the debate time, change rules of adding amendments, banning anonymous holds and rules of filibustering. Right now, it is too easy for any Senator to kill the bill without any proper reason by holding it publicly or anonymously or endlessly debating it and filibustering or adding unrelated controversial amendments. Things will improve only when Senators' powers are curtailed. Otherwise don't expect the situation to change much. But than why the Senators would bring these changes giving up their own powers to kill the bills and play partisan politics? That is the irony of the situation so chances of anything changing in future is quite low in my opinion.
On the other hand, I still feel that HR 3012 is not dead yet. As I have said in my previous posts, something must be cooking backdoor that only ** members and the advocacy group know. Until the official word is out, I would not consider the bill dead.
President Obama can get rid of this problem once and for all by passing the executive order if he wants to, like he did for Deferred Action on certain DREAMers earlier. The sad part is, he won't do it because there is no electoral benefit in doing that since Asians don't constitute a major vote bank in US yet unlike Hispanics. So the wait continues.
Last edited by Jonty Rhodes; 08-02-2012 at 03:23 PM.
That seems correct analysis. Holding a bill is like getting some other thing done for you which you could not get it done otherwise. The hold can be for any purpose which may not have to do anything with the bill. Expecting Obama to do anything is useless. He has proven to be the most anti-legal immigration president ever. I hope my negative sentiment is proven wrong and something comes out positive.
harry reid has "promised" that he will work on the whole "hold" concept if they are re-elected. So we'll see what happens. Also, I wouldn't call Obama anti-legal immigration. At worst he is neutral. He has already given his support to removing per-country limits. Further, there's nothing he can do if its stuck in Congress.
Obviously its not on the top of his list of priorities as it won't give him any political mileage. Besides there are other more pressing issues that need to be dealt with as well. Paying for the goverment and taxes being two of them.
From today's senate wrap-up
"Discharged the Judiciary Committee and passed S.3245, reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, the E-Verify Program, the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program, and the Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa Waiver Program with a Leahy-Grassley substitute amendment and a Leahy-Grassley title amendment."
This eliminates HR 3012 provisions as an addition to this Bill which was widely expected. However as I have previously mentioned,this Bill is for PERMANENT re-authorization of this Program and my guess is that only a temporary extension will pass this year after negotiations.Hence there is still some room for manouver.
Senate adjourned till Sept 10 and only one judicial nomination scheduled for that day
Last edited by gs1968; 08-02-2012 at 07:38 PM.
Agree with you.The more important point is for the Republicans NOT to take back the Senate because if that happens,Sen.Grassley is in line to take over as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee (Sen.Hatch has already served in this position) and such Bills will never see the light of day
I partially agree. Republicans are usually considered pro-legal immigration but usually the far right Republicans (Tea Party Members) are totally anti-immigrant. Democrats in general are pro-immigration but always want illegal immigration included on any immigration reform. It is true that if Republicans gain majority in Senate than it may be difficult to move immigration bills, especially those bills which may include visa recapture, giving EADs to H4 spouses, not counting dependents in the quota and increasing the number of overall employment based green cards. But I am pretty sure that even if Sen. Grassley becomes a Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, HR 3012, if reintroduced will not have much problem as he already had lots of negotiations and talks on the issue. So as long as his H1B amendments are addressed, he should not have a problem unless he has a change of heart and goes in to his usual anti-immigrant stance.
Democrats may not act on this bill till elections are over because as I said before, there is no electoral benefit for them. Latino votes for Republicans is a lost cause. Latinos favor Obama over Romney by a whooping 67%-23% margin. Unless Republicans take a major step on illegal immigration, they won't be gaining significantly from Latinos. But, they may lose their conservative votes if they try to do that. So they will not be acting in haste either.
But as I said, I will not consider the bill dead until the official word is out. We will see what happens.
I agree with you Jonty,...
btw, i don't know if anyone noticed last night, senate did pass EB5 re-authorization bill by unanimous consent.
Not just that,
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LI...nate_Floor.htm
They work hard, very very hard.
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