House rebuffs STEM visa bills

The U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass two similar bills that would have increased visas for legal immigrants with advanced degrees in science, technical, engineering or mathematics (STEM), but would have excluded visas for graduates of life science disciplines. Republicans in the House failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority to pass the STEM Jobs Act (H.R. 6429), which was sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas). The bill would also have ended a program that awards 55,000 visas annually via a lottery and would have prevented unused visas from being used to clear a backlog of visa applications. ...