WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte released the following statement today on the introduction of H.R. 3648, the bipartisan Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act of 2021, by Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and John Curtis (R-UT):

“We commend Representative Lofgren for introducing the EAGLE Act, and thank Representative Curtis for his leadership in joining as the lead bipartisan co-sponsor.

“Eliminating country-specific limits and reducing the green card backlog are important steps in building back a fair, efficient, and humane immigration system. This bill would reduce decades-long wait times for aspiring immigrants and their families who have been living and working in the U.S. for years, but are stuck indefinitely in the green card backlog simply because of their country of origin. It also improves oversight and clarifies requirements to ensure H-1B visas are used legitimately. These are common-sense changes that have enjoyed incredibly broad bipartisan support when previously introduced; similar legislation passed the House with overwhelming support last Congress.

“Expanding and improving the immigration system is urgently needed to maintain our global economic leadership, to grow our future workforce and to bolster critical programs like Social Security. Every day we fail to modernize our outdated immigration system, we put our role as the global economic and innovation leader more at risk.

“We support this legislation, and urge Congress to swiftly pass the bill and send this legislation to the President’s desk.”