Congress
Eric Schmitt, Ro Khanna voice support for H-1B visa reform, as GOP clashes over immigration
A Silicon Valley Democrat and a Republican Senator are calling for reform to the H-1B Visa program, which tech companies use to recruit thousands of high-skilled foreign workers every year.
“So I think the solution here, President Trump has actually articulated this in 2020, is to reform that system and get rid of the abuses, make it merit-based, and make sure that we’re not undercutting wages, and having Americans train their foreign replacements,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) told “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream.
The debate over the program, and immigration in general, roiled the Republican party last week, pitting tech entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, David Sacks and Vivek Ramaswamy against the likes of Nikki Haley, far-right political activist Laura Loomer and many in the MAGA base. President-elect Donald Trump appeared to voice support for the program Saturday.
“Take a big step back and F–K YOURSELF in the face,” Musk wrote on X Friday. “I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly understand.”
His comments came after Loomer appeared to reference the H-1B visa on X, saying it was akin to “substituting a third world migrant invasion for a third world tech invasion.”
The divide comes as a long-standing effort to promote high-skilled immigration gains steam in conversations between tech lobbyists and GOP lawmakers. Musk and his allies are leading the effort to sway uncommitted elected Republicans.
During Trump’s first term, his administration introduced rules tightening H-1B eligibility and requiring companies to shell out higher wages to recipients, running afoul of the tech industry. When the pandemic hit, his administration temporarily froze the program.
“You see qualified Americans being denied a lot of these jobs because a company can go out and hire cheaper labor from a foreign country,” Schmitt said.
Musk, himself once an H-1B recipient, has been relentless in backing the issue on his social media platform. Both Musk and Ramaswamy, co-runners of Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, have faced sharp resistance from MAGA hardliners for their support of skilled immigration.
Speaking with Bream on Sunday, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.) celebrated high-skilled immigration while urging reform to the H-1B program.
“One of the points that I think Elon and others are making is what makes America as exceptional is that we are a magnet for the world’s talent,” Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley in Congress, said. “It’s great that Elon Musk comes here. It’s great that Jensen [Huang], who started NVIDIA, is doing it here and not in Taiwan.”
But critics on both sides of the aisle have assailed the H-1B program for keeping high-skilled workers in limbo over their immigration status and underpaying them for their work.
“You can’t underpay these H-1B folks coming in,” Khanna said. The program “shouldn’t be for accountants or entry-level IT jobs. It should really be for exceptional talent. We should have that balance,” he continued.
Congress
Democrats deliver latest DHS funding offer to White House
Senate Democrats sent over their latest proposal for immigration enforcement changes at the Department of Homeland Security as a shutdown of the vast department drags into its second month.
The offer, confirmed by a White House official and two other people with knowledge of the matter, is the latest of several the two parties have traded since the funding lapse began Feb. 14. Little progress has been made since toward an agreement that would fund agencies including TSA, FEMA, ICE and the Coast Guard.
Democrats have vowed to block funding until the administration agrees to immigration enforcement changes in the wake of federal agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. Republicans, meanwhile, have rejected Democrats’ efforts to lop off immigration enforcement agencies and fund the rest of DHS.
The White House is “currently reviewing” the offer, the official said. But a top GOP aide immediately cast doubt of the seriousness of the proposal.
“It took 18 days for them to hit ‘Ctrl C’ and ‘Ctrl V,’” Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for Majority Leader John Thune wrote on X, referring to the copy-and-paste function on a personal computer.
Congress
Capitol agenda: House hard-liner headaches ahead
House Republicans are heading into a chaotic two-week sprint to try and make real legislative headway before a subsequent two-week recess — and prove that their narrow and deeply fractious majority can still get something done.
Hard-liners are already signaling this exercise won’t be easy. Here are the revolts to watch in the next two weeks:
— First, there’s FISA: Republican leaders want to pass a straightforward extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, next week, to give the Senate enough time to reauthorize the key spy authority before the April 20 deadline. The White House supports this path forward.
But conservatives want to add additional privacy guardrails to the existing law that allows the government to collect the data of noncitizens without a warrant.
Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican on party-line procedural votes without grinding floor operations to a halt. At least two of his members, Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Keith Self of Texas, aren’t ruling out opposing a “clean” FISA bill.
“We’ve got several must-pass bills, all of which need amending,” Self told Blue Light News. “And FISA is one of them.”
— Housing challenges: Hard-liners are also posing problems for the GOP’s ability to respond to voter concerns about higher costs of living as the midterms approach. Many are refusing to advance a Senate-passed affordable housing package because it doesn’t contain key policies they fought for on their side of the Capitol, such as a permanent ban on a central bank digital currency.
Now these holdouts want a bicameral conference to negotiate changes and strip out “socialist” provisions secured by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — an unrealistic demand that would serve as a de facto death knell for the entire effort.
“I don’t have anything to add to what’s been discussed already,” House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) told Blue Light News on Monday when asked about the status of talks.
— The “SAVE” revolt: Hanging over all these quagmires are threats from some hard-line Republicans to oppose any Senate-passed bill, for any reason, until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act — the GOP’s partisan elections package that stands little chance of becoming law (more on this below).
“I don’t care what the bill is,” Luna told Blue Light News. “If they can’t do their job, they can’t pass bills.”
She plans to start her blockade Tuesday by voting against a Senate-backed measure on the House floor that would extend the Small Business Innovation Research program.
What else we’re watching:
— “SAVE” debate begins: The Senate is set Tuesday to launch a dayslong debate over the SAVE America Act, which President Donald Trump calls his “No. 1 priority.” But don’t expect a “talking filibuster” that some conservatives hope would force Democrats to relent to a simple majority final passage despite their unified opposition. Instead, Republicans will start with a vote to begin consideration of the House-passed bill that would institute new citizenship and photo ID requirements in order to participate in elections.
— Friends of Ireland on Blue Light News: The speaker will host Trump and Taoiseach Micheál Martin for the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon at noon.
— AIPAC on the ballot: Tuesday’s primary elections in Illinois will serve as a critical test of whether the historically powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee still has clout.
Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Elena Schneider and Shia Kapos contributed to this report.
Congress
Senate GOP ready to move on elections bill
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told reporters Monday the chamber will vote Tuesday to take up a House-passed elections bill known as the SAVE America Act.
The Wyoming Republican, whose job it is to help round up support, said he is “doing everything I can to make sure we get on this bill tomorrow.”
Republicans will need a simple majority to begin debate on the partisan legislation; they can lose three members and still let Vice President JD Vance break a tie.
So far, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has said he’s a “no,” while Republicans are also watching GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
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