STEM Jobs Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this partisan legislation. Rather than simply creating a program that offers visas for students graduating in fields we need, this legislation picks ``winners and losers'' among our Nation's immigrants. Rather than tackling the tough issues surrounding immigration reform by building consensus, once again our Republican colleagues are pushing divisive legislation that punishes certain immigrant groups and rewards others.

We have another option. My Democratic colleagues have put forth a straightforward STEM proposal that would offer visas to graduates fields like science, mathematics and engineering. Instead, we are debating a measure that would reduce overall immigration levels and create a series of false choices.

All of us recognize the value of bringing more immigrants with certain skills and educational backgrounds. Where we seem to disagree is this--those of us on our side of the aisle also recognize that we should not be penalizing other hardworking immigrants from more humble backgrounds.

I say to my colleagues--reject this bill. Let us instead focus on real immigration reform that is based on consensus and focuses on making our system fairer and better.

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