WASHINGTON -- The House passed a Republican-led bill on Friday to increase visas for foreign nationals who earn advanced degrees in the U.S. for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in a 245 to 139 vote that fell mostly along party lines.
The STEM Jobs Act is unlikely to get a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and the White House officially came out in opposition to the bill on Wednesday. But its passage in the House was also a harbinger for things to come as the two parties map out a broad plan for dealing with immigration. While Democrats opposed the bill because they want a more comprehensive approach, Republicans argued a piecemeal process would be a better path forward -- a wide gap in views that will be difficult to bridge.
"We need to break up the elephant into bite-size pieces," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who voted for the STEM bill, told reporters Friday after a post-vote press conference. "I want to break this up into passable bill by passable bill."
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