HILLSBORO, Ore. — House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that there is an “emerging consensus” in Washington to replace the immigration system with the skills-based policy endorsed by President Trump, but without cuts to immigration levels.
Visiting Intel’s facilities here, Ryan fielded a question from an employee who asked about immigration.
Ryan responded that he previously sponsored immigration legislation called the “Staple Act” inspired by former Intel CEO Andy Grove, which would have provided more visas for graduates for foreign PhD students who graduate with degrees in engineering or science.
Skills-based immigration “is a smart thing for our country,” Ryan said.
But with baby boomers retiring, he added, “we have a real demographic crunch on the horizon and we have to deal with that.”
He aims to bring people into the workforce through welfare reform and legislation to boost technical training.
Even after that, though, “we’re still going to have shortages,” he said, citing the need for people to milk cows in his home state of Wisconsin.
“I believe a consensus is emerging” on that, Ryan told the Intel employees.
Trump has endorsed a bill called the RAISE Act, sponsred by Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, that would shift to a points-based system and reduce overall immigration levels. The White House claimed that the reform would raise workers’ wages.
