On a broader scope, key House and Senate members maintain their position that Congress will examine comprehensive immigration reform in the period after the November election and before the start of the next Congress in January 2007, known as the "lame-duck" session. However, many of those involved in the debate over immigration reform question the ability of negotiators to reach an agreement, given the wide ideological gap between the House and Senate with respect to treatment of America's undocumented population. In December of last year, the House passed an "enforcement-only" bill that increases the resources available to some immigration enforcement and border security programs and heightens penalties against immigration violations. In May of this year, the Senate passed comprehensive legislation similar to the House bill, but includes a guest worker program and legalization for currently undocumented immigrants as well as visas for highly educated workers. Over the past summer, House leadership declined to have an immigration conference with the Senate to resolve the differences, electing instead to hold 22 field hearings across the United States to address immigration and border security.
Aside from comprehensive reform, the House and Senate each has a pending bill that focuses on visa backlog relief for highly educated workers. In May, Senate Immigration Subcommittee Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership Act of 2006 (SKIL Act). In June, Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) introduced an identical companion bill in the House of Representatives. Prior to introduction, the sponsors of SKIL Act worked closely with the immigrant and business communities, including the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP) and the Compete America Coalition, to identify and propose the removal of the obstacles U.S. employers face in recruiting and retaining the most qualified workers. If enacted, the SKIL Act would increase temporary (H-1B) and permanent employment-based visa quotas and exempt certain highly educated professionals from the quotas. The legislation would also streamline the process for international students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math to become permanent residents of the U.S. The SKIL Act is also part of the Senate's comprehensive reform bill. However, given the anticipated difficulty in reaching an agreement on comprehensive reform, SKIL Act supporters likely must find an alternative legislative vehicle during the lame-duck session to pass limited relief for highly-educated workers.
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