Email to a Friend
Stumble It!
FORCING THE ISSUE
Rep. Thelma Drake, R-Va., has gathered 169 signatures on a petition to force the House to consider the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act -- a bill aimed at increasing border security and enforcing immigration laws at work sites.
"It's time to demonstrate that Congress is serious about illegal immigration," Drake said on the House floor, urging her colleagues to sign the discharge petition and give "quick and complete" attention to the issue.
Once 218 members sign the petition, the bill can bypass any committees and be heard on the House floor.
MORE VISAS
Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., introduced a bill aimed at tripling the number of visas given to highly-skilled foreign workers.
The Strengthening United States Technology and Innovation Now (SUSTAIN) Act would increase the number of H-1B visas issued in 2008 and 2009 from 65,000 per year to 195,000 per year.
“We want to welcome all legal immigration and welcome the world’s best and the world’s brightest,” Cantor said.
The bill seeks to keep foreign graduate students in the fields of science and engineering from returning to their home countries.
“We want them to stay here,” Cantor said. “In order to for us to stay ahead we need highly skilled workers.”
IMMIGRATION CRIME
Republican Reps. Eric Cantor, Rob Wittman, and Drake are seeking a more streamlined process for local law enforcement to check the citizenship status of criminal suspects held in local jails.
In a letter sent Thursday to the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the Virginians raise concerns with local police computers being synched only with FBI crime databases, not citizenship databases maintained by federal immigration officials.
"The current database restrictions force law enforcement to ask inmates whether they are legal or not. That should not be happening," the letter reads.
The letter suggests local law enforcement be granted access to the immigration computers, current crime and citizenship databases be linked, and the department advise Congress how to "remedy this breakdown in communication" among law enforcement.
MILITARY COMMITTEE
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., was named to the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday, an assignment the freshman lawmaker had sought since being sworn in December.
"We have five bases. Twenty percent the folks in the district are military or retired military personnel, so it's critical to meet the needs of the district," Wittman said.
He received the assignment after Republican Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan departed the military committee in exchange for a seat on the House Homeland Security Committee.
"From day one we were emphatic with (Republican) leadership that we wanted to be on this committee," said Wittman, "To the point of being a pest."
Wittman gives up a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to gain the new assignment. He will serve on the seapower and readiness subcommittees.
Wittman's appointment continues a 31-year string of Virginia's first district representative serving on the Armed Services Committee.
SICK LEAVE
Reps. Jim Moran, D-Va., and Frank Wolf, R-Va., have teamed up on a bill to give retiring federal workers a new sick leave benefit.
Under current law, federal sick leave operates under a "use it or lose it" policy, and many retirees take off large amounts of accrued sick time before they officially retire.
The Virginia lawmakers' bill would allow retiring employees to cash out sick leave, earning 15 percent of their hourly pay for each hour of leave accrued beyond 500 hours. The benefit would max out at $10,000.
"We need to be incentivizing the accrual of sick leave, not keeping a policy in place that encourages people to call in sick in the weeks leading up to retirement," said Moran, D-Va., in a statement.
--Neil Simon
Rep. Thelma Drake, R-Va., has gathered 169 signatures on a petition to force the House to consider the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act -- a bill aimed at increasing border security and enforcing immigration laws at work sites.
"It's time to demonstrate that Congress is serious about illegal immigration," Drake said on the House floor, urging her colleagues to sign the discharge petition and give "quick and complete" attention to the issue.
Once 218 members sign the petition, the bill can bypass any committees and be heard on the House floor.
MORE VISAS
Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., introduced a bill aimed at tripling the number of visas given to highly-skilled foreign workers.
The Strengthening United States Technology and Innovation Now (SUSTAIN) Act would increase the number of H-1B visas issued in 2008 and 2009 from 65,000 per year to 195,000 per year.
“We want to welcome all legal immigration and welcome the world’s best and the world’s brightest,” Cantor said.
The bill seeks to keep foreign graduate students in the fields of science and engineering from returning to their home countries.
“We want them to stay here,” Cantor said. “In order to for us to stay ahead we need highly skilled workers.”
IMMIGRATION CRIME
Republican Reps. Eric Cantor, Rob Wittman, and Drake are seeking a more streamlined process for local law enforcement to check the citizenship status of criminal suspects held in local jails.
In a letter sent Thursday to the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the Virginians raise concerns with local police computers being synched only with FBI crime databases, not citizenship databases maintained by federal immigration officials.
"The current database restrictions force law enforcement to ask inmates whether they are legal or not. That should not be happening," the letter reads.
The letter suggests local law enforcement be granted access to the immigration computers, current crime and citizenship databases be linked, and the department advise Congress how to "remedy this breakdown in communication" among law enforcement.
MILITARY COMMITTEE
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., was named to the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday, an assignment the freshman lawmaker had sought since being sworn in December.
"We have five bases. Twenty percent the folks in the district are military or retired military personnel, so it's critical to meet the needs of the district," Wittman said.
He received the assignment after Republican Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan departed the military committee in exchange for a seat on the House Homeland Security Committee.
"From day one we were emphatic with (Republican) leadership that we wanted to be on this committee," said Wittman, "To the point of being a pest."
Wittman gives up a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to gain the new assignment. He will serve on the seapower and readiness subcommittees.
Wittman's appointment continues a 31-year string of Virginia's first district representative serving on the Armed Services Committee.
SICK LEAVE
Reps. Jim Moran, D-Va., and Frank Wolf, R-Va., have teamed up on a bill to give retiring federal workers a new sick leave benefit.
Under current law, federal sick leave operates under a "use it or lose it" policy, and many retirees take off large amounts of accrued sick time before they officially retire.
The Virginia lawmakers' bill would allow retiring employees to cash out sick leave, earning 15 percent of their hourly pay for each hour of leave accrued beyond 500 hours. The benefit would max out at $10,000.
"We need to be incentivizing the accrual of sick leave, not keeping a policy in place that encourages people to call in sick in the weeks leading up to retirement," said Moran, D-Va., in a statement.
--Neil Simon