Comment by snackjack_38294

Hi Peter, thanks for doing this.

One question I have is regarding skilled immigration from India and China specifically. Currently, people have to wait decades through no fault of their own. Big Tech companies, Chamber of Commerce, and many Republicans also support this.

However, a Democratic Senator, Dick Durbin has disingenuously blocked meaningful progress and reforms over and over and over again. He blocked the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 which had passed House with 365 votes and was sponsored by current Vice President Kamala Harris. He added on a poison pill that would not have gotten support knowing fully well that the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act would have passed.

Similarly, Rep. Zoe Lofgren wrote to Speaker Pelosi expressing great dismay that her legislation (different bill, 2 years ago) which would have provided reforms was pulled from the floor and that it was important to force a vote.

It is certainly known that Republicans have blocked immigration reform (Grassley on CHIPs, etc) but Democrats have had multiple opportunities to remove the per-country visa cap and repeatedly refuse to do so in varying dishonest manners.

Why is Democratic leadership so against skilled immigrants coming from India and China? The closest we have come so far was under a Republican administration. Many populist Republicans support these reforms so it is perplexing to me that a party so committed to removing barriers that enforce systemic discrimination continue to let things play out as they are.

https://rollcall.com/2022/12/15/democrat-pushes-to-reverse-d...