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News and updates

New Immigration Executive Order

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced a new Executive Order (EO) on immigration today. The new EO limits six nations (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) will be restricted for entry to the US for 90 days and thereafter under heightened scrutiny. Iraq is specifically excluded. The order will not go into effect until March 16, 2017.

This will apply to individuals from the six nations who:

  1. are outside the US as of the effective date (March 16, 2017) of the order
  2. did not have a valid visa as of 5 pm EST on January 27,2017; and
  3. do not have a valid visa as of the effective date of the order (March 16, 2017).

This will not apply to anyone with a green card or valid visas issued prior to March 16, 2017.

The Visa Interview Waiver program is also suspended with exemptions for diplomatic or diplomatic-type visas, NATO visas, C-2, G-1 through G-4 visas; or traveling for purpose related to an international IOIA- designated meeting

The EO also calls for additional uniform screening and vetting standards for all immigration programs, including accelerating biometric entry-exit tracking,  and a realignment of the UW Refugee Admission Programs for FY 2017, including a suspension of applications for the 120 days after enactment. Additionally, the EO will limit the number of refugees allowed to enter the US to 50,000 for FY 2017.

Read the new Executive Order.

Read the Presidential Memo on the Executive Order. 

Related to the Executive order, USCIS announced on Friday a “pause” on processing all premium H-1B applications received on or after April 3, 2017. This includes all visa not subject to the cap. There is no indication when the pause will be lifted. 

 

This Week in Congress, March 6-10

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March 8

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS PUBLIC WITNESSES DAY

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

10am, 2358-C Rayburn House Office Building

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY: SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE

 Regulating Space: Innovation, Liberty, and International Obligations

10am, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS: SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES

 Investing in America: Funding our Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure Needs

10am, 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS: SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES

Saving Lives Through Medical Research

10:30am, 138 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

March 9

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY

 Markup: “Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act of 2017” (HONEST Act), and H.R. ____, the “EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act of 2017”

9am, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE: SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMODITY EXCHANGES, ENERGY, AND CREDIT

The Next Farm Bill: Rural Development and Energy Programs

10am, 1300 Longworth House Office Building

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Management Challenges at the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and the Social Security Administration: Views from the Inspectors General

10am, 2358-B Rayburn House Office Building

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS: SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED AGENCIES

Oversight on the Department of State and Foreign Operations Programs

10am, 2362-A Rayburn House Office Building

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY: SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

National Science Foundation Part I: Overview and Oversight

11am, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE: SUBCOMMITTEE ON BIOTECHNOLOGY, HORTICULTURE, AND RESEARCH

The Next Farm Bill: Specialty Crops

2pm, 1300 Longworth House Office Building

What We’re Reading This Week, February 27 – March 3

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Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

We’ll Need to Change the Law – The Trump Administration has started the FY2018 budget passback process, where it was clear that the Administration intends to ask for a significant increase to defense funding at the expense of non defense discretionary funding (or everything that isn’t defense). Such a proposal would be a tough lift for Congress, and it becomes more of a challenge when you realize that Congress would have to pass legislation repealing the BCA to do so. Read more in Roll Call. 

Unified Against – Late last week, a House Republican discussion draft for ACA reform was leaked…and now most in Congress are against it.  House Leadership have come out this week and have said the draft is a total nonstarter now. Read more in The Hill. 

Safe Harbor – President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time this week, and the speech was notably more tempered in delivery while still hitting all the Trump policy points. The Washington Post has the speech annotated.

Trump’s Soft Spot – President Trump’s sympathetic remarks about the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers — “these incredible kids,” he has called them — were a surprising turn for a man who had vowed during the campaign to “immediately terminate” their protections from deportation. But they are unlikely to be the last word. Read more from the New York Times.

Skills Gap – President Donald Trump brought two dozen manufacturing CEOs to the White House on Thursday and declared their collective commitment to restoring factory jobs lost to foreign competition. Yet some of the CEOs suggested that there were still plenty of openings for U.S. factory jobs but too few qualified people to fill them. Read more from the Associated Press.

Travel Ban Update: Delayed Again – President Donald Trump will soon sign a revised executive order banning certain travelers from entering the U.S., but unlike the original version, it is likely to apply only to future visa applicants from targeted countries, according to people familiar with the planning. Read more from the Wall Street Journal.

Sessions to Recuse Himself from Potential Russia Investigations

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Responding to charges that he may have potentially misled Congress during his confirmation hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced March 2 that he will recuse himself from any potential Justice Department investigations into Russian interference in the November presidential election.

During his press conference, he stated that he responded correctly to the hearing question about possible contacts with Russian officials during the campaign and noted that he met with the Russian ambassador and ambassadors from other nations in his capacity as a Senator, not an official from the Trump campaign. At the same time, the Attorney General stated that, based on the advice of senior Justice Department staff, he will recuse himself from any potential DOJ investigations of Russian involvement in the presidential election.