Washington: The landmark immigration bill, which offers a path to citizenship for more than 11 million - including over 260,000 Indians - undocumented immigrants and increasing H-1B visas today passed its first legislative test.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on the fifth day of its deliberations that included 300 amendments to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill - Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act - passed it by 13-5 votes.
The bill passed through the key Senate committee only after lawmakers reached a deal on H-1B visa expansion plan. The bill (No 744) now goes to the Senate for approval - which is expected to witness another round of negotiations and tough bargaining. It needs 60 votes to pass the 100-seat Senate.
Welcoming the passage of the legislation, US President Barack Obama said that it is largely consistent with the principles of commonsense reform he has proposed and meets the challenge of fixing the broken immigration system....
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12:16 PM, May 22, 2013
Washington: In a "major breakthrough", two influential American Senators on Tuesday reached an agreement on the contentious H-1B visa expansion plan, which Congressional aides said is a compromise between the demand of the tech-industry and the concerns of the labour unions. The deal reached between Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, covers eight amendments sponsored by the latter to make the process for granting H-1B visas more...
11:40 PM, May 21, 2013
Washington: President Barack Obama on Wednesday revived a list of his favorite tax ideas, hoping to raise $580 billion in new revenues from the wealthy over a decade in a potential opening gambit to forge a deal with Congress to overhaul the tax code. While certain not to move forward en masse, his 2014 budget blueprint has elements likely to spur discussion, including a proposal to tax derivatives more stringently,...
05:07 AM, Apr 11, 2013
A bipartisan group of senators is closer to a deal on immigration reform to resolve the problem of 11 million illegal immigrants, including some 260,000 Indians, according to a media report. The "Gang of Eight", as the group of four Democratic and four Republican senators negotiating the deal is called, had moved closer to an agreement on a visa programme for future low-skilled workers, Politico, an influential news site focusing...
11:40 AM, Mar 30, 2013
It is the first day of forced spending cuts after US President Barack Obama signed the order on Saturday. The result of a failed alternative by Congress and the White House and the blame game by all parties means the average American will be hard hit. ...
09:35 AM, Mar 03, 2013
Despite his opposition to it, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to begin $85 billion in spending cuts, which he said could see growth cut by over one-half of one per cent and cost about 750,000 jobs. Obama signed the order reluctantly after he and the Congressional leadership those from the Republican party failed to arrive at a consensus on budgetary cuts and how to address the issue...
12:30 PM, Mar 02, 2013
The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama's new secretary of defense, ending an unusually acrimonious confirmation fight. ...
05:05 AM, Feb 27, 2013
President Barack Obama is telling congressional Republicans that he is still willing to reduce the deficit but only with a mix of increased taxes and reduced spending, an offer he made during budget talks that collapsed at the end of last year. Republicans say they reject raising more tax revenue. ...
10:17 AM, Feb 13, 2013
The U.S. Congress approved a rare tax increase on Tuesday that will hit the nation's wealthiest households in a bipartisan budget deal that stops the world's largest economy from falling into a deep fiscal crisis and recession. ...
09:53 AM, Jan 02, 2013
A months-long battle over the US "fiscal cliff" headed to a close on Tuesday as the House of Representatives moved toward final approval of a bipartisan deal meant to prevent Washington from pushing the world's biggest economy into recession. ...
09:04 AM, Jan 02, 2013
Hours past a self-imposed deadline for action, the Senate passed legislation early New Year's Day to neutralise a fiscal cliff combination of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that kicked in at midnight. The pre-dawn vote was 89-8. ...
12:43 PM, Jan 01, 2013
The agreement includes a balance of spending cuts and revenue increases to pay for the delay in the automatic spending cuts. ...
12:15 PM, Jan 01, 2013
Racing against the clock, the White House reached agreement with congressional Republicans late on Monday on a deal to prevent across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts to government programs from taking effect at midnight, according to administration and Senate Democratic officials. ...
08:10 AM, Jan 01, 2013
President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Thursday from a vacation shortened by government gridlock while Democrats and Republicans snarled across a partisan divide and showed no sign of compromise to avoid year-end tax increases and spending cuts. ...
04:06 AM, Dec 28, 2012
Gun control laws in the United States have come under fire after the mass killing on Friday at a Connecticut school, putting renewed pressure on US President Barack Obama and other Democrats to address the easy availability of firearms. ...
01:11 PM, Dec 15, 2012
The US Presidential elections may be over but the war between the Democrats and the Republicans is still on. With fears of fiscal woes looming large, President Barack Obama has urged Republicans to consent to his plan to raise $1.6 trillion from higher taxes on the wealthy. ...
09:27 AM, Dec 02, 2012
Sorry, fellas, but President Barack Obama's re-election makes it official: Women can overrule men at the ballot box. For the first time in research dating to 1952, a presidential candidate whom men chose decisively - Republican Mitt Romney - lost. More women voted for the other guy. ...
11:04 AM, Nov 25, 2012
Chicago: On the day after the 2010 midterm election that swept Republicans into control of the House of Representatives and decreased Democrats' majority in the Senate, senior White House adviser David Axelrod had a message for President Barack Obama. "I think they just planted the seeds of your re-election," he told his boss. "The most strident voices had seized control of the Republican Party and you knew that the nominee...
03:30 AM, Nov 09, 2012
Washington: One day after a bruising, mixed-verdict election, President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner both pledged on Wednesday to seek a compromise to avert looming spending cuts and tax increases that threaten to plunge the economy back into recession. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev said "Of course" an agreement is possible. While all three men spoke in general terms, Boehner stressed that Republicans would be willing...
07:09 AM, Nov 08, 2012
Washington: Boasting of the only two Indian-American governors, presidential challenger Mitt Romney's Republican Party is the flag bearer of American conservatism advocating "smaller and smarter" government, fiscal discipline, lower taxes and minimum regulation. Founded by anti-slavery activists in 1854, the Republicans dominated US politics nationally for most of the period between 1860-1932 providing 18 of America's 44 presidents, including George W. Bush, who occupied the White House from 2001 to...
11:14 AM, Nov 05, 2012
