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Senate Clears Measure Containing a Month-Long Extension of E-Verify, Religious Worker Visas, and Two Other Expiring Immigration Programs
By Micheal E. Hill
September 30, 2009 - 6:15 pm
The Senate today cleared for the President's consideration a measure providing for a month-long extension of the controversial E-Verify program. The meaure that the Senate approved also extends the EB-5 Investor Visa Regional Center, Special Immigrant Non-Minister Religious Worker Visa, and Conrad 30 State J-1 Visa programs through the end of October. President Obama is expected to sign the measure tonight. Had the Senate not acted, authority for each of the four immigration programs would have ended at midnight tonight.
Today's Senate action occurred in connection with the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918, the Fiscal Year 2010 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill. Division B of that measure comprises a continuing appropriations resolution to fund the operations of the federal government through the end of October. The provisions extending the four expiring immigration programs are found in the continuing appropriations resolution portion of H.R. 2918.
The full House of Representatives adopted the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918 on Friday, September 25, 2009, approving it by a vote of 217-190. The Senate followed on September 30, adopting the conference agreement by a vote of 62-38.
Summary of Immigration- and Refugee-Related Provisions
The following summarizes the immigration-related provisions in the measure:
- E-Verify Program. Section 128 of Division B of the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918 extend the authority for the E-Verify program through October 31, 2009.
- EB-5 Investor Visa Regional Centers Program. Section 130 of Division B of the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918 extend the authority for EB-5 Investor Visa Regional Centers program through October 31, 2009.
- Special Immigrant Non-Minister Religious Worker Visa Program. Section 133 of Division B of the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918 extend the Special Immigrant Non-Minister Religious Worker Visa program through October 31, 2009.
- Conrad 30 State J-1 Program. Section 134 of Division B of the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918 extend the Conrad 30 State J-1 Program through October 31, 2009.
Victory for Religious Worker and Conrad 30 Advocates
The decision by appropriators to include extensions of all four expiring immigration programs is a victory for advocates for the Special Immigrant Religious Worker Visa and the Conrad 30 State J-1 Visa programs, in particular. In previous years, continuing appropriations resolutions have extended the E-Verify and EB-5 Investor Regional Center programs. However, they have not extended the Religious Worker and Conrad programs, leaving advocates for those two programs to scramble to win short-term extensions.
Longer-Term Fate of the Four Programs to be Decided Shortly in Homeland Security Appropriations Bill
Each chamber have approved extensions of one or more of the four expiring programs as part of their respective versions of H.R. 2892, the Fiscal Year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. However, because of the danger that the differences between the two chambers on many of the provisions of that bill would not be resolved prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, Congress opted to insert short-term extensions of the four programs into H.R. 2918 whle they work out their differences on the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.
At the time of this writing, there are strong indications that the House and Senate may be nearing an agreement on longer-term extensions for the four programs and that the agreement could be taken up within days. It was not clear, however, how the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills will be resolved. The House-passed version of the Fiscal Year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act would extend the E-Verify program for two years. However, the House did not address the EB-5 Regional Center, Special Immigrant Non-Minister Religious Worker, and Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa Waiver programs. The Senate-passed versions of the Fiscal Year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, on the other hand, would permanently authorize the E-Verify System and the EB-5 Regional Center Programs, and it would extend the Special Immigrant Non-Minister Religious Worker and Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa Waiver programs for three years.
Click Here to see the official text of H.Rept. 111-265, the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918
Click Here to see a section-by-section summary of Division B of the conference report accompanying H.R. 2918
Click Here to see a more general summary of H.Rept. 111-265
Click Here for more information
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