Contact Your Member of Congress
The EB-5 regional center program is due to sunset on September 30, 2012. Please contact your Member of Congress and show your support for a more permanent extension of the EB-5 regional center program. A brief legislative history and some talking points are provided below for you to use when contacting Congress.
To find your Senators, please click here. To find your Representatives, please click here.
Legislative context:
- Congress enacted the EB-5 Pilot Program in 1992, in accordance with a congressional mandate to stimulate economic activity and create jobs for U.S. workers, while also affording eligible foreign investors the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents.
- A complete list can be found here. There are now over 100 Regional Centers, with many more pending.
- In June 2008, the House of Representatives passed a simple 5-year extension of the Pilot Program (H.R. 5569) under suspension of the rules. The Senate was unable to pass the extension in spite of strong bipartisan support.
- The program was extended through March 6, 2009 as part of the FY 2009 Continuing Resolution.
- The program was extended again in March 2009 as part of an omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 1105), this time through September 30, 2009.
- On September 30, 2009, Congress passed a continuing resolution for Health and Human Services and the Labor Department funding that also extended the EB-5 program until October 31, 2009.
- The FY2010 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 2892), which includes a 3 year extension of the EB-5 regional center program was signed into law by the President on October 28, 2009. The program is now extended through September 30, 2012.
- The EB-5 extension bill is not controversial. Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate support it. In 2008, H.R. 5569 was reported out of the House Judiciary Committee with unanimous support and no objection.
- The EB-5 regional center pilot program is an important vehicle for large-scale investment of capital for commercial economic development and job creation in economically weak communities across the U.S.
- Failure to renew the program will result in the loss of thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars in badly needed investments in rural and economically distressed areas.
- Many regional centers located in these economically distressed areas are established in conjunction with state and local economic development authorities.
- It is estimated that direct investment through the Pilot Program will double this year to over $1.5 billion, generating at least 30,000 new jobs for U.S. workers.
- The uncertainty created by extending the program in short, six-month increments has already had a chilling effect on potential investors. A longer term, or permanent reauthorization, is urgently needed to restore investor confidence.
- Without a more certain investment environment, the program cannot compete with similar immigrant investor programs around the world.
- Extending the program will not cost the government anything. H.R. 5569 was scored as revenue neutral by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
- Failing to extend the EB-5 regional center program could represent job losses of 400,000 new jobs and investment losses of $20 billion over the span of a 5-year reauthorization! In economic times like today, we cannot pass up the opportunity to create jobs and inject liquid capital into the economy.
