(A)Political - July 26th

Good morning everyone,

JD Vance is throwing heat this week! Let’s dive in!

On Capitol Hill, hearings scheduled for early autumn will pit Vice President JD Vance against Big Tech leaders over H‑1B reform, setting the stage for new wage‑floor rules that could reshape how Microsoft and its rivals hire foreign talent. The Justice Department’s lawsuit could force New York City to decide within weeks whether to rewrite its sanctuary rules or fight a high‑stakes court battle that may set a national precedent on local cooperation with ICE. Markets now await the September FOMC meeting to see if Chair Jerome Powell bends to President Trump’s intensifying rate‑cut campaign, a decision that will signal just how far the Fed’s independence can stretch under direct political pressure.

• VP Calls Out Microsoft For Exploiting H1B’s At The Expense Of American Workers

• DOJ Sues NYC Over Sanctuary Policies

• Trump & Powell Continue To Clash On Rate Cuts

VP Calls Out Microsoft For Exploiting H1B’s At The Expense Of American Workers

_{By: Atlas}

Vice President JD Vance ignited a fresh round of debate over high‑skill immigration this week, accusing Microsoft of “gaming the system” by laying off thousands of U.S. employees while continuing to file large numbers of H‑1B visa petitions. Speaking at the All-In sponsored Hill & Valley “Winning the AI Race” summit in Washington, Vance told a packed auditorium, “You eliminate 9,000 jobs, then you apply for 6,000 foreign‑worker visas, and you still claim you can’t find American talent? That doesn’t pass the smell test.” His comment drew applause from some policymakers and audible groans from others, underscoring how sharply the H‑1B debate now divides even pro‑business Republicans.

The vice president framed his critique as a defense of middle‑class workers who, he said, feel squeezed by simultaneous layoffs and rapid adoption of artificial‑intelligence tools. “Our message is simple,” he added. “We want the best and brightest to build great companies here, but not at the expense of Americans ready, willing, and able to do the job.”

Microsoft Pushes Back

Within 24 hours of Vance’s remarks, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella released a company‑wide memo acknowledging that 9,000 employees had been let go since January yet insisting the firm’s overall headcount “remains relatively unchanged” because other units continue to hire aggressively. Nadella wrote that more than half of the visa filings Vance cited were renewals for existing staff and that layoffs affected both U.S. citizens and visa holders. “The majority of these petitions relate to seasoned engineers who have lived and worked in the United States for many years,” he said, noting that H‑1B visas “do not equal replacement; they preserve institutional knowledge in critical areas like cybersecurity and cloud architecture.”

Microsoft also pointed to the static 85,000 annual H‑1B cap—unchanged since 2004—arguing that U.S. universities are not graduating enough advanced STEM specialists to meet exploding demand in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and secure cloud services. Company lawyers added that visa law already requires employers to pay prevailing wages and that the firm invests heavily in domestic talent pipelines, including grants to community‑college coding programs in Ohio, the vice president’s home state.

The Numbers Behind the Friction

According to federal data, Microsoft filed 9,491 H‑1B petitions in the last fiscal year, with approvals covering new hires, renewals, and inter‑company transfers. Critics often spotlight raw filing totals, but immigration economists note that renewals make up roughly two‑thirds of petitions across the tech sector. Many of those employees arrived in the United States a decade ago and are stuck in lengthy green‑card backlogs created by per‑country limits.

Layoffs further complicate the picture. When a visa holder loses a position, he or she has just 60 days to find new work or depart the country—meaning a layoff can swiftly trigger a family’s relocation. Advocates argue that strict grace periods, not corporate disloyalty, account for companies requesting transfers on behalf of affected staff.

Yet Vance’s allies cite headline numbers and persistently high under‑employment rates among recent American STEM graduates. The National Science Board reports that only 63 % of U.S. citizens with bachelor’s degrees in computer science worked directly in the field last year, down from 72 % a decade earlier. Labor groups say entry‑level wages have stagnated as companies tap a ready pool of foreign workers willing to accept relatively lower pay in exchange for visa sponsorship. Big Tech counters that most engineering salaries start well above six figures and that shortages exist in specialized subfields such as advanced machine learning, embedded security, and large‑scale data‑center design.

Political and Policy Cross‑Currents

Vance’s broadside comes as the White House revisits the entire work‑visa architecture. President Donald Trump—once a vocal defender of the H‑1B as a means to recruit “the best and brightest”—has shifted tone in his second term, now promising reforms to “prioritize Americans and end abuse.” Proposals under review include stricter wage floors tied to local cost‑of‑living indices, random post‑hire audits, and adjustments to the selection lottery so companies with recent layoffs receive lower priority.

On Capitol Hill, conservative Republicans applaud Vance’s pressure campaign, while business‑friendly moderates warn that tighter quotas could push research centers to Canada or Europe. Some Democrats, long skeptical of large guest‑worker programs, find themselves aligned with the vice president’s populist rhetoric; others, especially those from immigrant‑heavy districts, counter that skilled visas drive innovation and entrepreneurship.

India, whose citizens consistently receive more than 70 % of new H‑1B slots, is watching closely. New restrictions could jeopardize recent joint‑initiative gains on semiconductor supply‑chain security and defense‑tech collaboration. Indian officials have privately urged the administration to tackle green‑card backlogs rather than ratchet down visas, warning that abrupt shifts would upset bilateral ties.

Where the Debate Goes from Here

Congressional committees are scheduling hearings for early autumn, inviting company executives, labor‑union leaders, and immigration scholars to testify on whether the H‑1B program crowds out domestic talent or fills genuine skills gaps. Vance’s office says it will present data showing that companies with the largest layoffs also filed the most visa petitions, though corporate lobbyists argue the figures conflate renewals with fresh hires.

Meanwhile, the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security are finalizing a joint rule that would raise prevailing‑wage requirements, extend grace periods for laid‑off visa holders, and establish new transparency mandates forcing firms to disclose visa counts alongside domestic hiring metrics. If adopted, the rule could blunt accusations of “replacement” by shining light on how many U.S. workers a company hires relative to visa holders.

As election season intensifies, Vance signals he will continue hammering the theme. “We’re not against immigration,” he told reporters after the summit. “We’re against a system stacked against our own college grads.” Microsoft, for its part, says it remains committed to “American leadership in innovation” and stands ready to engage “in good‑faith policy discussions grounded in facts, not slogans.”

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