Amendment - A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, the Senate must agree to it. [2]
“The Senate may dispose of each amendment either by voting on it directly or by voting to table it.” [9]
“When all committee amendments and all senators' floor amendments have been disposed of, the bill is ordered engrossed and read a third time, which step ends the amendatory process. The third reading is by title only. The question is then put upon passage of the bill, which requires a simple majority vote.” [3]
2013年的移民改革八人帮(Gang of Eight)所提出的法案S.744 [7] 有554个修正案，但只有155个表决(action)。言下之意就是至少有399个修正案没有任何讨论或后文。从现实也可以理解：对于554个修正案，就算参议院每天研究表决一个修正案，那么至少也要2年时间才能处理完，2年之后众议院早已改选，物是人非。2013年参议员Grassley就吐槽说：“我表达了我对投票没有进展的沮丧很多次了，尤其是在上周。这个法案我们花了3周时间，但是只处理了9个修正案。” [12]
另外一个佐证笔者论点的论据来自S.744的反思(post-mortem): ”移民改革之死(The death of immigraiton reform)”。民主党人回顾当时的策略: 如何从554个修正案挑出几百个好通过的修正案，以便获得70位参议员的支持。因为尽管有554个修正案，但是main sponsor不必令所有100位参议员开心，比如只需要挑出70位参议员提出的若干个修正案得到表决就够了。
“Reformers relied heavily on a strong Senate showing. The Gang of Eight believed if they drove up the number of votes, the House would be pressured to act quickly. Schumer touted his 70-vote strategy as essential.” [6]
“Senators are free to modify or withdraw their amendments until the Senate takes “action” on them.” [4]
“A Senator may stop debate on an amendment by being recognized and then moving to lay it on the table. If the Senate agrees to this non-debatable motion, the amendment is considered to be rejected or tabled” [5]
笔者在最后对投降及妥协主义抱有深深的忧虑：与Mike Lee沟通，希望他能提出有利于华人的修正案的理想很美好，但是现实上这是：与虎谋皮，枉费心机。不要忘了Mike Lee背后的大金主是谁。引用10月17日Durbin在S.2603上的演讲说Mike Lee虚伪：“说到全面的移民改革，我不想老生常谈，但是当年我们开了上百次会和许多的修正案。所有人都花了大量时间达成共识(come up with one bill at the end)。我投了赞成，你投了另一边。”[10]
Reservation of 5.75% for Rest of the World :
In addition to the above reservation for rest of the world ( except India, China) there is an additional 5.75% of green cards that will be reserved for first nine fiscal years ( e.g from FY 2020 to 2029) for rest of the world.
But, the catch is the order of allocation of the 5.75% will be given in the below priority order. See below screenshot as well.
Derivative Dependents: Spouse and Children fall under derivative dependents and they are first priority to use the 5.75% quota. They may be outside of the country as well.
Consular Applicants : Anyone( ROW) applying for green card from outside of US and not lived in US in the immediate past 4 years. These consular processing applications gets the second priority to use the remaining 5.75% of reserved green cards.
Other Rest of the world applicants : If there are any more open slots left after the above two categories, they would use the rest of the 5.75% quota slots. This could include anyone living in US or outside of US, who are not from the two major states (India, China)
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