By a vote of 245 to 139, the House passed this afternoon the STEM Jobs Act (HR 6429) offered by the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Lamar Smith (R-TX). The bill, which previously failed in September on suspension of the rules, would create 55,000 STEM visas for graduates of Carnegie Foundation rated (very high or high level) research universities with advanced degrees in STEM fields. The bill does not include biological sciences in the definition of STEM. Unlike the prior version of the bill, it does not prohibit participation by graduates of universities that utilize commission-based international recruiters.
The bill is not expected to be taken up in the Senate in the lame-duck session so will likely die at the end of the year.