Following the IIUSA Annual Leadership Summit on September 9th, over twenty members of IIUSA’s Leadership Circle climbed Capitol Hill to conduct nearly 30 separate meetings with Members of Congress and congressional staff.
Read about Day 1 of the IIUSA Leadership Summit here.
The IIUSA Leaders were divided into four teams: two teams to handle meetings with U.S. Senate Offices and two teams to handle meetings in the House of Representatives. Before any meetings took place, Leaders and IIUSA staff met at the association’s lobbyists’ offices to receive directions and to be sure everyone was carrying the same messages to policy makers.
During this Hill Day, the message was two-fold. First, be sure to let congressional offices know the EB-5 Regional Center Program is up for reauthorization in 2027. A large part of this conversation was, in many instances, discerning how much the congressional staff knew about the Program and when necessary, taking the time to explain it. Second, to explain the difficulty anyone has communicating with the USCIS and that IIUSA is working with (now) eight House offices to further an introduced bill to create an “advisory committee” within USCIS to help facilitate productive policy dialogue. The advisory committee bill is bipartisan. Its House Bill number is HR 7220 and IIUSA is working hard to have a companion bill introduced in the Senate.
One additional meeting took place with the IIUSA officers, executive director, and lobbyist. Toward the end of the day, they met with Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-18) and her senior staff to discuss how lifting per-country-caps would impact the EB-5 industry. Congresswoman Lofgren has long supported lifting the per-country-caps because of the positive impact it will have for tech companies seeking H1-B visa for new employees. To her credit, Representative Lofgren was receptive to understanding how per-country-caps impact EB-5 and was eager to learn more, asking for all the data we could give her! Thanks to this meeting, the Congresswoman is now fully aware of IIUSA’s concerns, making it easier for us to continue the dialogue when/if any new legislation addresses the caps.
IIUSA is very grateful to its lobbyists, George McElwee and Katie Hazlett and their team at Commonwealth Strategic Partners. Their tenacity, organization, and Capitol Hill network allowed for a very productive day!
Interested in participating in IIUSA Hill Days, the Leadership Summit, and other Leadership Circle-exclusive activities? Learn more here or email [email protected] to join the IIUSA Leadership Circle!
Thank you to the IIUSA Leadership Circle for their support of IIUSA’s advocacy efforts
