Senators andCongressmen have a long history of attaching pet amendments to budget and fundingbills. They know that these bills are “mustpass” legislation, meaning that Congress will certainly pass a budget or elsethe entire government would shut down. Since budget and funding bills are must pass, prized amendments getapproved without going through the usual route, working their way through subcommitteesand full committees. This year severalodd amendments were offered.
Sen. Hatch (R-UT) offeredan amendment that sought to allow the conference committee to raise the H-1Bcap, increase STEM visas, raise the green card cap, and increase the H-1Bfee. Sen. Grassley (R-IA) sought the exact opposite. He hoped to restrict H-1B usage. Neither amendment was successful.