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HOPES FOR THOUSANDS of new US working visas for Irish people look to have been scuppered by a last-minute objection by a single US Senator.
The bill sought to allow Irish citizens avail of surplus E-3 visas that are specifically for Australians. It had been predicted that if passed it could mean up to 5,000 US visas a year specifically set aside for Irish citizens.
The bill was passed the US House of Representatives without the need for a vote earlier this month but it now looks certain to fail in the Senate.
It needed unanimous support in the 100-seat Senate because it was being fast-tracked but a “hold” has now been put on the bill by Senator Tom Cotton.
The hold being placed on the bill means it looks unlikely to pass today as the Senate grapples with the passing of money bills to avert a government shutdown.
If the bill doesn’t pass before the weekend a new bill would have to be initiated because the House of Representatives is set to sit for the first time under its new membership in the new year.
Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan effectively steered the bill to this point but Democrat Nancy Pelosi is set to become Speaker of the House in the new year.
Chicago-based Senator Billy Lawless of Seanad Éireann told TheJournal.ie that it feels like the bill has been “caught in the middle” of the “mayhem and crisis” in Washington.
Lawless says that the only slim hope is that the impending shutdown means Senators have to return to work over Christmas, but even then the E-3 bill may not get passed.
We are working on it, we haven’t given up yet because who knows. A lot of the Senators went home yesterday, Thursday. They now look like they might have to come back over the Christmas because, if they don’t, tonight at midnight we’re going to have the government closing down. So the whole thing is just unbelievable and we’re stuck in the middle.
“In saying that, we’re working on Cotton. We have ourselves, the embassy, the government, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, myself, all of the other advocates,” Lawless adds.
“If he withdraws the hold and they come back, and I think it has to come back because the government is shutting down.”
Lawless says Cotton is being lobbied heavily by Irish diplomats and advocates but that at present they are unaware what his objection is.
“He never indicated why but that’s the tactics when it comes to the cloakroom counting. At the end of the day we thought everything was fine and we were going to put it to a talk through vote, and then Cotton put a hold on it.”
The Irish Central reports that hard-right website Breitbart had written a number of articles in opposition to the E-3 bill and that a Breitbart reporter had contacted Cotton about the bill.
One of Breitbart’s articles accused the bill of attempting to “outsource many thousands of US college graduate jobs to Irish graduates”.
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Jesus – I’m off to the beach to collect some sand
There’s a difference between going to the moon and buying the Cork Examiner.
Literally, friends in high places
A moon rock that was presented to the Netherlands turned out to be petrified wood.
@Finipops: I’m more inclined to believe the robbery/arson theory. More than likely robbed to order & is now sitting in someone’s private collection.
@Finipops: Could have been gall stones for what we know l..
@Finipops: Was that not Nixon mixing tablets with drink?
Lunacy.
That’s it now , maudlin Friday night it is , The carpenters , (close to you) is up first .
So they sprinkled moon dust
If that is Moon dust then it should be radioactive from the solar and cosmic radiations?
@Alois Irlmaier:
Explain the science behind your assumption?
Are you saying the whole moon is radioactive? Are the astronauts that landed there in danger? Aldrin has survived quite a long time.
Or maybe you’re an idiot.
@Stephen Coveney: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032063312002085
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/08sep_radioactivemoon/
“The surface of the Moon is badly exposed to cosmic rays and solar flares, and some of that radiation is very hard to stop with shielding.” “All this radiation penetrating Human flesh can damage DNA, boosting the risk of cancer and other maladies.”
“When galactic cosmic rays collide with particles in the lunar surface, they trigger little nuclear reactions that release yet more radiation in the form of neutrons. The lunar surface itself is radioactive.”
@Stephen Coveney: Dailymail there meant to say neutron radiation not UV but UV would be dangerous but not as bad as the gamma and X Ray radiation there.
@Stephen Coveney: https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/284273main_Radiation_HS_Mod1.pdf
https://www.space.com/21353-space-radiation-mars-mission-threat.html
Read the part… “Dangerous Radiation in Space and on the Moon”
Capricorn One
Is it just me…eh dad, let’s not throw out that moon dust yet, could get a bit of craic off or with the lads later
A fool and his money are easily parted. Lol
You really need to be a great idiot to buy dust that can be from anywhere, even if it is from the moon!!!
have your say