Eb-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would like to thank Senator Leahy for joining me to discuss the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. He and I have worked together on the issue of EB-5 reform for many years.

Because of that, we are proud that the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 includes the provisions of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, of which we are the primary authors.

Congress originally authorized the EB-5 Regional Center program in 1993 as a pilot program, and, in recent years, its reauthorization was often included in appropriations bills. However, due to lack of an agreement to reauthorize and reform the program last year, it lapsed on June 30 and has remained lapsed since that time.

This legislation formally repeals the pilot program created by Congress in 1993 and codifies in its place a new regional center program reflecting a number of reforms that we have pursued for many years.

All regional centers which operated under the lapsed and repealed pilot program will be expected to seek a new regional center designation in compliance with the new requirements and reforms laid out in our bill. However, the bill allows petitions filed by immigrant investors under the old pilot program to continue to be adjudicated under the law as it existed when they were filed.

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 codifies a number of our long-sought reforms designed to enhance the integrity of the regional center program and prevent fraud and abuse that have plagued it for far too long.

The bill also requires that DHS issue regulations regarding the redeployment of investor funds if certain conditions are met. We expect USCIS to oversee redeployments and take action as necessary. Investors should not be left vulnerable and regional centers cannot be allowed to deploy funds in any way they please. We expect capital to remain at risk, as required by the law, and the redeployment of funds to be in projects that are preapproved.

The legislation codifies the definition of and the designation process for a ``high unemployment'' targeted employment area that was found in the 2019 EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Rule. As under the 2019 rule, the bill allows only DHS to make such designations.

The codification of the so-called donut model from the 2019 rule will significantly limit the number of census tracts that may be used to seek a designation as a ``high unemployment'' TEA.

This limitation, combined with the exclusive authority of DHS to make high unemployment TEA designations, will crack down on the notorious practice of TEA gerrymandering, the practice of creating elaborate configurations of multiple census tracts strung together so that a census tract with high unemployment at one end can be used in order to obtain a TEA designation for a building project within an affluent census tract at the other end, perhaps many miles away.

It is also our expectation that ``high unemployment'' TEA designations will be reserved for census tracts that have experienced persistently high unemployment for a number of years and not because of temporary anomalous circumstances such as local unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, the legislation puts in place specific visa set-asides for rural area projects, high unemployment area projects, and infrastructure projects. The visa set-aside for infrastructure projects is limited to true public infrastructure projects--that is, those that benefit the public and the American people--not public-private partnerships or projects for a private business.

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 is the result of years of hard work and negotiation, and it is our hope that it brings meaningful reform to a program badly in need of it and, most importantly, much- needed investment capital and the permanent jobs that can come with it, to inner city and rural areas where it is normally difficult, if not impossible, to attract investment capital. We are grateful that it was included in the Omnibus bill and look forward to seeing it signed into law. Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I have been impressed that our Eastern European allies have been able to act so quickly in providing aid of all kinds to Ukraine, including weapons these countries need for their own defense to deter Putin.

Even the notoriously bureaucratic European Union has acted with unprecedented speed.

When asked by Eastern European diplomats why Congress is taking so long to pass aid for Ukraine, I do not have a good answer.

It always takes time to negotiate and draft an appropriations package to get it just right. But the Ukrainians do not have the luxury of time.

We should have passed a Ukraine supplemental last week, even if imperfect. It would have passed overwhelmingly, sending a strong message to Ukraine, our eastern flank allies, and the aggressor Putin.

Now, the much needed Ukraine supplemental has been rolled into a giant Omnibus bill.

This package has some things I strongly support, or even helped write. But these provisions are riding along with a big growth in spending, which I do not support.

I typically vote against giant take-it-or-leave it omnibus bills. They are no way to legislate.

Senators who are not on the Appropriations Committee never see the contents of an Omnibus spending bill until we face a deadline for government funding running out--and an up-or-down vote; with no amendments. I urged my party's leadership to insist on a separate vote on the Ukraine funding package in their negotiations with Democrat leaders, but here we are, nevertheless.

Urgent aid for Ukraine shouldn't be wrapped up in an Omnibus full of unrelated spending.

A cynic would say Ukraine aid was added to the Omnibus intentionally to help it pass. Well, this is a town where cynicism is often well- deserved.

Senators who support helping heroic Ukrainians defend themselves from a barbaric onslaught, as I do, are being forced to swallow a giant, bitter pill.

So, for the record, I oppose the spending level in this Omnibus bill and the broken process by which it was cobbled together. I am not happy about being pushed into a corner yet again. Be advised--I will not roll over and play nice going forward.

But I cannot in good conscience vote in a way that would further delay urgently needed support for Ukrainians fighting for their freedom on the front lines against tyranny. Vote on Motion to Concur

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