IDEA Act of 2011
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Workforce Protections.
Immigration Driving Entrepreneurship in America Act of 2011 or the IDEA Act of 2011 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a priority worker immigrant visa for an alien who has a qualifying: (1) master's or higher degree in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM degree) from a U.S. institution of higher education; and (2) employment offer from a U.S. employer.
Eliminates the foreign residency requirement for certain foreign students.
Allows extensions of stay based upon a lengthy labor certification or priority adjudication for: (1) foreign students, (2) speciality occupation aliens, and (3) intracompany transfers.
Establishes an immigrant visa category for qualifying venture capital-backed start-up entrepreneurs and for self-sponsored start-up entrepreneurs who intend to engage in, or have engaged in, new commercial enterprises in the United States.
Provides for the recapture of unused employment-based and family-based immigrant visas.
Exempts spouses and minor children from counting against numerical limits.
Revises per country (and dependent) area limits to: (1) eliminate employment-based limits, and (2) increase family-based limits.
Amends the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 to eliminate the provision requiring the reduction of annual Chinese (PRC) immigrant visas to offset status adjustments under such Act.
Establishes in the Treasury the STEM Education and Training Account. Requires that 60% of Account funds be used for a STEM scholarship program for low-income U.S. students enrolled in degree programs in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.
Authorizes certain undocumented higher education students who first entered the United States when they were 15 years old or younger to adjust to nonimmigrant student status.
Revises labor certification provisions, including: (1) requiring the Department of Labor to adjudicate an application within 120 days, (2) creating an Established U.S. Recruiter designation for recruiters who regularly recruit U.S. workers, and (3) authorizing a premium application processing fee.
Revises the prevailing wage level computation formula.
Revises H-1B visa (specialty occupation) provisions regarding: (1) wages, (2) U.S. worker displacement and protections, (3) recruitment requirements, (4) portability, (5) creation of a P-visa for fashion models in lieu of H-1B visa inclusion, (6) elimination of extensions for certain short-term workers, and (7) retention of petition priority date.
The summary continues for 3 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on June 14, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 8, 2011: Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA) introduced it on June 14, 2011, and 26 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 26 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 14, 2011, 5567 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5481 days ago, on September 8, 2011.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers