I recently read this https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2022/08/22/what-happened-to-the-bills-on-employment-based-immigration/?sh=21fb10335658 https://

I recently read this https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2022/08/22/what-happened-to-the-bills-on-employment-based-immigration/?sh=21fb10335658 https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2022/08/22/what-... by Forbes, which pointed out that the popular idea of exempting STEM PhDs from green card caps is primarily procedural: > In July 2022, hopes were high the FY 2023 defense authorization bill would include an amendment on green cards for individuals with Ph.D.s in science and engineering. In what has become a familiar story, it was not to be. > “According to a Congressional source, the House Rules Committee did not rule the amendment in order because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the provision would cost $1 billion over 10 years,” as reported in July. “To address the issue and offset the cost, a $7,500 fee was added for the individuals who received permanent residence under the provision. However, the House Ways and Means Committee said the fee could not be included because it amounted to a tax and, therefore, violated Clause 5(a) of Rule 21 of the rules of the House of Representatives.” That's just the first order reason. The second-order cause is that there is just not enough political will to get this over the finish line -- nobody wants to spend enough political capital pushing it through all the little things that can stop a bill, so a random reason pops up every time. All the hurdles here can be overcome -- just nobody in a position to do something cares enough about it compared to all the other legislative priorities they have. As for the reason no congressman wants to spend political capital on this subject? I don't know enough about congressional politics, internal or external, to say. The primary takeaway I have about this whole saga is that it's not enough for a bill to be without much opposition -- it must have people actively pushing it through all the little vetoes that different corners of congress built into the procedure of passing bills. It's not opposition that kills bills -- it's indifference.