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U.S. House passes bill to cancel diversity visa lottery

04 December 2012 10:52 (UTC +04:00)

The 245-139 vote was a test of the GOP’s plan to tackle immigration piecemeal, and while the bill passed, the strong opposition from Democrats suggests that Republicans’ strategy will face difficult hurdles.

And while the chief selling point of the bill was to boost green cards given to science, technology, engineering and technology students, the bigger fight came over Republicans’ plans to cancel the diversity visa lottery, which the GOP argues is rife with fraud.

“We want to put to the head of the line the people who, every single one of them that comes, net creates jobs,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, who managed the bill on the House floor.

It’s unlikely that the bill will pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, USA Today reported. Sens. Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, are sponsoring a bill that would increase STEM visas while keeping the green card lottery.