HR-5985-119
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Sponsored by Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
What it does
This bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to exempt H-1B specialty occupation visa holders employed at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or state-recognized veterans homes from the annual H-1B numerical cap (currently 65,000 regular visas plus 20,000 for U.S. advanced degree holders). It would also explicitly block a September 19, 2025 presidential proclamation — and any substantially similar executive order or proclamation — from restricting H-1B entry for workers in this VA-employed category. The exemption would take effect six months after enactment.
Who benefits
Veterans who receive care at VA facilities and state veterans homes, who may gain access to a larger pool of specialty healthcare providers. Foreign-born physicians, nurses, and other specialty healthcare workers seeking H-1B status who would no longer compete within the annual cap. VA and state veterans home administrators facing staffing shortages, who would have greater flexibility to recruit internationally trained specialists. Medical residency programs affiliated with VA facilities that train foreign-born physicians. Rural and underserved communities where VA facilities are often a primary source of specialty care.
Who is hurt
U.S.-born or already-resident healthcare workers who may face increased competition for VA positions from a larger pool of H-1B eligible candidates. Other H-1B-dependent industries (tech, engineering, finance) that compete for the existing capped pool would not directly lose slots, but the bill signals a precedent for further cap exemptions. Workers in the broader H-1B system who currently benefit from cap-exempt status at nonprofits and universities may see their relative advantage diluted. The bill's explicit override of a presidential proclamation may be viewed by some as constraining executive authority over immigration enforcement.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the VA faces a well-documented physician and specialist shortage — with vacancy rates in some specialties exceeding 30% — and that the annual H-1B cap artificially restricts the agency's ability to fill critical roles serving veterans. They contend that other nonprofit and academic medical institutions already receive cap exemptions, and extending that same treatment to VA facilities simply levels the playing field while directly benefiting the veterans population Congress has a special obligation to serve.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that expanding cap exemptions without addressing underlying VA workforce pipeline issues — such as pay competitiveness and administrative burdens — treats a symptom rather than the cause of staffing shortages. They contend that the bill's explicit statutory override of a presidential proclamation raises separation-of-powers concerns, as Congress would be using legislation to nullify a specific executive action on immigration entry, an area where the President holds broad discretionary authority under INA §1182(f) as affirmed in Trump v. Hawaii (2018).
Constitutional context
Congress holds broad authority over immigration under the Naturalization Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 4) and the Necessary and Proper Clause, giving it clear power to set or remove numerical visa caps. However, the bill's provision explicitly nullifying a specific presidential proclamation issued under INA §1182(f) creates tension with the executive's entry-restriction authority, which the Supreme Court affirmed carries rational-basis deference in Trump v. Hawaii (2018). Post-Loper Bright (2024), courts would independently assess whether the statutory carve-out sufficiently overrides the executive's claimed INA authority.
Checks and balances
Congress would gain authority by statutorily overriding a specific presidential proclamation on H-1B entry restrictions; the executive branch retains general immigration enforcement discretion, but its proclamation power would be curtailed in this narrow category by explicit legislative action.
Historical precedent
The cap-exempt status for H-1B workers at nonprofit research organizations and institutions of higher education was established by the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21) of 2000, which is the closest direct analogue to this bill's mechanism.