Mike Collins: “I appreciate the gentleman from Colorado and also the gentlewoman from California, but, Mr. Speaker, I rise today, and I…”

“I appreciate the gentleman from Colorado and also the gentlewoman from California, but, Mr. Speaker, I rise today, and I am in reluctant opposition to H.R. 1044. This is not something I would like to be, but this bill could be better. In fact, it is not going to do what it said it will do, and that is a problem. Current law states that nationals of one country can receive no more than 7 percent of employment-based green cards allotted each year. H.R. 1044 removes the 7 percent cap, effectively moving the employment-based green card categories to a first-come-first-served basis. Okay. That is fine. The bill also raises the current annual per-country cap on family-based green cards to 15 percent. Okay. But to be clear, I agree with the concept of eliminating the per- country caps on employment-based green cards. In fact, I think that there probably should not have been a cap from the onset of this, but Congress did not place a statutory per-country limit on green card issuance, and a result has been an extremely large backlog of nationals from certain countries who have approved green card petitions but whose green card is not available and will not be for several years.…”