Here’s your sunshine break 🌞 — I’m Erica, and this is Feel Good News, where the world’s good side always gets the spotlight.
1. Croatia declared free of landmines after 31 years
Croatia has officially become free of landmines after a decades-long effort that came at a heavy cost. Over 30 years, 208 people lost their lives, including 41 deminers, in the painstaking and dangerous work of clearing the country of over 107,000 mines and 407,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance. The total cost of this undertaking is estimated at around 1.2 billion euros. This milestone marks the fulfillment of a moral obligation to the victims of mines and their families, and it paves the way for safer communities, better development of rural areas, more farmland, and stronger tourism in Croatia.
2. India set to launch free nationwide HPV vaccination for adolescent girls
The Indian government is set to launch a nationwide human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program targeting girls aged 14 years. The vaccination will be voluntary and free of cost to ensure equitable access across socio-economic groups. India will use the Gardasil quadrivalent HPV vaccine, which provides protection against HPV types 16 and 18 that cause cervical cancer, as well as types 6 and 11. The program will leverage India's partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to procure the vaccines through a transparent, globally supported mechanism. The HPV vaccination will be conducted exclusively at designated government health facilities, with trained medical staff to manage any adverse events. Cervical cancer remains the second most common cancer among women in India, and the vaccination program aims to directly address this challenge by preventing HPV infection before it can progress to cancer. The approach is grounded in global best practices, national disease burden evidence, and expert recommendations.
3. Millions of New York City workers entitled to more time off as new law takes effect Sunday
Starting next week, millions of workers in New York City will be entitled to an additional 32 hours of unpaid protected leave per year under a new law. The law also expands what qualifies for paid time off, allowing workers to use it to care for a child or loved one with a disability. The city will send compliance warnings to 56,000 businesses and audit companies to ensure workers get the time off they're entitled to. An Amazon worker shared his experience of not having enough accrued hours to see a doctor, but the company said it complies with all laws and is committed to providing a safe and supportive workplace, including time off for employees.
5. A children's hospital is renamed for Dolly Parton and hopes to transform pediatric care in Tennessee
Dolly Parton, the renowned country music superstar, is lending her name to a new cause - advancing pediatric healthcare in her home state of Tennessee. The East Tennessee Children's Hospital will now be known as the Dolly Parton Children's Hospital, reflecting Parton's philanthropic efforts to support children and families in need. Parton's generous donations and initiatives, such as the Imagination Library book program and contributions to Vanderbilt University's COVID-19 vaccine research, have already made a significant impact. The hospital's leadership believes this partnership with Parton will transform pediatric care in the region, ensuring every child receives the treatment they deserve, especially amid the challenges of rural hospital closures.
6. Denmark becomes first country in the European Union to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis
Denmark has become the first country in the European Union to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, a major public health achievement recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO). This milestone demonstrates Denmark's strong political commitment and consistent investment in primary care and integrated maternal and child health services, protecting every pregnant woman and newborn. Denmark met all the required targets from 2021 to 2024, including low transmission rates and high coverage of prenatal testing and treatment for pregnant women. This success is a testament to the strength of Denmark's maternal health system and its long-standing commitment to reaching every pregnant woman with the care she needs. Denmark's exemplary data systems, robust laboratory capacity, and high human rights standards have been essential to this achievement. Denmark's experience provides a powerful model and motivator for other countries seeking to strengthen their efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B. WHO is working with Denmark to advance the triple elimination validation process, which would make Denmark the first country in the European Union to achieve this milestone.
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It has come to our attention that a serious outbreak of a virus illness has been seriously harming our campus community. We take this public health threat very seriously and want you all to be aware and alert so that you can stay safe.
As a matter of transparency, we want to be clear on the origin of this virus. The Frontal Recognizance Transmutation Arenavirus 24 (often called just arena or FRT-24) has been a known threat for some time, with clear symptoms from infected individuals. A research lab on campus was known to have been studying its effects. This particular strain, the alpha variant, was of particular interest, so when a sample went missing, we exhausted campus resources to locate it. We were unable to and are now deeply sorry to our campus community. We take full responsibility for the current outbreak.
FRT-24 is highly contagious, so it is important to know the immediate signs. Look for:
Sudden headaches or migraines
Dizziness or loss of vision
Fevers and chills, especially paired with heavy perspiration
Loss of cognitive functions
Rapid muscle swelling
If you are infected, symptoms may take up to three days to develop, and you may still be a vector in this time. As the disease takes hold, you may notice a change in mood, as a lack of interest in usual activities. Instead, the disease drives the infected towards spreading. Common hubs seem to be gyms, parties, and social gatherings. We have also noticed an uptick in fraternity membership this year, a possible sign of disease spread.
Know the signs in yourself or others, as often the infected will not show traditional signs of ailment. This student has given us permission to share his story:
This young man was a healthy Junior just a few weeks ago. He was a promising young academic in biochemistry, hoping to one day do research on emergent diseases. Since his experience with FRT-24, his life is forever changed.
The changes are alarming. He has gained over 100 lbs and been unable to focus on his studies. Instead, he was spending hours in the student rec center, consumed by his illness as he worked his body to exhaustion. Since his quarantining, he has been unable to answer any basic questions about his academic career or research project. Instead, he has shown a hallucinated knowledge of a personal training and fitness program. As an early vector, we are aware of at least 10 other students who were infected before his quarantine, and he is being held for further observations on disease progression.
Thankfully we have been able to identify the method of transmission. At this time, it seems bodily fluids are most transmissible method. It seems that this virus enhances the body in this respect. Those infected will often try to spread by any means necessary. They are very good at finding susceptible men, isolating them, and finding ways to expose them directly to their sweat, saliva, and in some cases semen. They will be desperate for any chance to get you alone with them, to join their ranks. Do no be drawn in by promises of muscle, of status, or ease of life. Their brains are no longer their own. They only seek to make you a drone for FRT-24.
While we are still in the early stages of understanding the virus, we would like to acknowledge the valiant work done by Dr. Pulaski and his team of researchers. They have lead the way in this fight, throwing themselves at this dangerous line of work. Without their noble sacrifice, we would be still months from understanding the origins of this outbreak. We have narrowed down the point of origin to a party held a few weeks ago in the PKE frat house. At this time, it is unknown if frat leadership was in any way involved with this outbreak.
Sadly, Dr. Pulaski was found earlier this week a few days after conducting interviews and performing sample retrieval from the PKE house believed to be the epicenter. He was found shirtless, flexing his newly formed muscles in the mirror at the student rec center.
When reached for comment, he only smirked and reported “feeling great, bruh,” a clear sign of decline. We are still uncertain if he has exposed any of his other researchers to the disease.
Remember, you are responsible for yourself and out campus community. If you suspect you or someone you know has been exposed, please report to the Student Health Center immediately for examination. In the mean time, please stay safe everyone. We will continue to keep you updated as we know more
Regards,
Dr. Brendan Host, President
Congrats @occamstfs on 2k followers. I hope you all enjoy a late entry to the party. Go out and check out the other writers under the #occam2000 tag, some great stuff in there. And don't worry, FML: Initiate is coming soon.
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1. Homes built with clay, grass, plastic and glass: How a Caribbean island is shying away from concrete
“[… Clay] traps moisture which then evaporates and pulls heat from the surface as it goes. […] The roof is covered in old recycled advertising banners and piece of a water tank, the other half of which is used to house some of Rahaman-Noronha's fish [… and] multi-coloured glass bottles inset into walls provide an avenue for streams of light and colour.”
2. To Combat Phoenix’s Extreme Heat, a New Program Provides Sustainable Shade
“The neighborhood workshops allow residents to get a shade plan tailored to their community’s needs and identify the locations where officials can plant trees. Meanwhile, the workforce-development side of the program creates the jobs needed to keep the trees alive for generations[….]”
3. Conservation corridors provide hope for Latin America’s felines
“[… S]cience has shown that to maintain healthy populations there needs to be connection between individuals. [… A] protected area that is close to another has more species and more potential for their survival.”
4. Social program cuts tuberculosis cases among Brazil's poorest by more than half
“The decrease [“in TB cases and deaths”] was over 50% in extremely poor people and more than 60% among the Indigenous populations. […] "We know that the program improves access to food [… and healthcare…] and strengthens people's immune defenses as a result.””
5. Geothermal has vast potential to meet the world’s power needs
“New geothermal systems could technically provide as much as 600 terawatts of carbon-free power capacity by 2050[…. C]ountries could cost-effectively deploy over 800 GW of geothermal power capacity using technology that’s in development today[….]”
6. New D.C. Catholic archbishop is pro-LGBTQ+ and anti-Trump
“In 2018, he objected to the blaming of gay priests for the clergy sexual abuse crisis, “saying that such abuse was a matter of power, not sexual orientation[….]” “We must disrupt those who portray refugees as enemies [… and] seek to rob our medical care, especially from the poor.””
7. Chesapeake Bay Will Gain New Wildlife Refuge
“The Chesapeake Bay area will have a new wildlife refuge for the first time in a quarter century. […] “This new refuge offers an opportunity to halt and even reverse biodiversity loss in this important place, and in a way that fully integrates and respects the leadership and rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities.””
8. Inside Svalbard seed vault’s critical mission to stop our favourite fruit and veg from going extinct
“[… T]he world’s largest secure seed storage […] sits proudly in a massive former coal mine[….] Right now, there are over 1,331,458 samples of 6,297 crop species. […] “During 2024, 61 seed genebanks deposited 64,331 seed samples, including 21 from institutes that deposited seeds for the first time this year[….]””
9. Medical debt will be erased from credit reports for all Americans under new federal rule
“The rule will affect more than 15 million Americans, raising their credit scores by an estimated average of 20 points. [… S]tates and localities have already utilized American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to support the elimination of over $1 billion in medical debt for more than 700,000 Americans[….]”
10. 'Forgotten' water harvesting system transforms 'barren wasteland' into thriving farmland
“"The process started with the community-based participatory planning[….]” 10% to 15% of the water will actually soak into the ground to replenish the water table, creating a more sustainable agricultural process.”
December 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)
Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #35
Sep 20-27 2024
President Biden and Vice-President Harris announced new actions to curb gun violence at the one year anniversary of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The Office is the first ever White House office to deal with the issue of guns and has been overseen by the Vice-President. President Biden signed a new Executive Order aimed at combatting the emerging threat of machinegun conversion devices. These devices allow the conversion of semi-automatic firearms to a rate of fire that can match military machineguns, up to 20 bullets in one second. The EO also targets the threat of 3-D printed guns. The EO also addresses active schooler drills at schools. While almost every school conducts them there is little uniformity in how they are carried out, and no consensus on the most effective version of a drill. President Biden's EO directions the development of a research based active shooter drills, which maximize both student physical and mental safety.
President Biden celebrated the one year anniversary of the American Climate Corps and announced new Climate Corp programs. The Climate Corps has seen 15,000 young people connected to well paid jobs in clean energy and climate resilience jobs across America. The EPA and AmeriCorps announced a new Environmental Justice Climate Corps program which will connect 250 American Climate Corps members with local communities and over the next 3 help them achieve environmental justice projects. In addition HUD announced it will be the 8th federal agency to partner with the Climate Corp, opening the door to its involvement in Housing. Since its launch the American Climate Corp has inspired 14 states to launch their own state level version of the program, most recently just this week the New Jersey Climate Corps.
The Biden-Harris Administration announced that 4.2 million small business owners and self-employed people get their health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Up from 1.4 million ten years ago when President Obama and then Vice-President Biden rolled out the marketplaces. The self-employed are 3 times as likely as other Americans to use the marketplaces for their insurance, one out of every 5 getting coverage there. The ACA passed by President Obama, defended and expanded by President Biden, has freed millions of Americans to start their own businesses without fear of losing health coverage for them and their families.
The Departments of Transportation and Labor pressed freight railroad companies to close the gap and offer paid sick time to all their employees. Since 2022 under President Biden's leadership the number of Class I freight railroad employees who have access to paid sick days increased from 5% to 90%. Now the Biden-Harris Administration is pushing to finish the job and get coverage to the last 10%.
The EPA announced $965 million to help school districts buy clean energy buses. This comes on top of the 3 billion the EPA has already spent to bring clean energy buses to America's schools. So far the EPA has helped replace 8,700 school buses, across 1,300 school districts in all 50 states, DC, tribal nations, and US Territories. 95% of these buses are zero-emission, battery-electric. The clean bus program is responsible for over 2/3rds of the electric school buses on the road today.
The Biden-Harris Administration took another step forward in its historic efforts to protect the Colorado River System by signing 5 water conservation agreements with local water authorities in California and Arizona. The two short term agreements will conserve over 717,000 acre-feet of water by 2026. Collectively adding 10 feet to Lake Mead’s elevation by 2026. The Colorado River Basin provides water for more than 40 million people and fuels hydropower resources in seven U.S. states.
The Department of The Interior announced $254 million to help support local parks, the largest such investment in history. The money will go to 54 projects across 24 states hoping to redevelopment or create new parks.
HHS announced $1.5 billion to help combat opioid addiction and prevent opioid overdose deaths. The money will support state and tribal governments and help pay for mobile clinics, naloxone kits, and treatment centers. This comes as nationwide overdose rates drop for the first time since 2020, thanks to strong investment in harm reduction efforts by the Biden-Harris team.
The Department of Agriculture announced it'll spend $466.5 million in food assistance and development worldwide this year. Through its McGovern-Dole Program, the United States is the largest donor to global school feeding programs. The USDA will help feed 1.2 million children in Angola, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Malawi and Rwanda. Through its Food for Progress the USDA will help support 200,000 farmers in Benin, Cambodia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Tunisia shift to climate-smart agriculture boosting food security in those nations and the wider region.
At a meeting at the UN First Lady Jill Biden announced a partnership between USAID and UNICEF to end childhood exposer to lead worldwide. Lead exposure kills 1.5 million people each year, mostly in the developing world.
The Senate approved the appointment of Byron Conway to a federal judgeship in Wisconsin. This makes the 213th federal judge that President Biden has appointed.
On Saturday, October 25th, Technodad and the One of Us Foundation (created in 2023 to honor Technoblade) will be hosting its third annual Festival of Voices fundraising event.
All proceeds from the event will help fund the One of Us Global Foundation’s programs and initiatives, such as Potato Seeds, which awards monetary prizes and leadership support to youth-developed project ideas that create positive change in their community.
The theme for this year’s Festival of Voices is “Crystal Siege.” The event will consist of a capture the flag style Minecraft game combining a series of minigames that focus on defense, offense, and strategy. 60 Minecraft Twitch streamers and YouTubers will be participating in one of four teams, and viewers can decide whether they want to help or hinder their favorite teams by making donations to effect the gameplay.
Tune in on Saturday to support your favorite streamers and the One of Us Foundation! Here's a list of all the streamers who will be participating this year:
Check out the Chimera Hearts community on Discord – hang out with 14 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.
Way back in February, I made This Post (inspired by This One) talking about some of the issues facing the RPG hobby and industry, and calling some of my peers to action to see what we could do about it. Originally, the goal was to hold a discussion with speakers & debate, taking the lessons we learned from each other back out into the world. After a week or so of incompatible schedules, we decided to expand the discussion. After a bit more back-and-forth, something kind of amazing happened.
With the incredible leadership of Daniel of The Copper Compendium, that same gaggle of folks has been putting together a discord server to act as the hub of what we hope will be a larger movement in RPGs. We call it Chimera Hearts – and we want you to join.
The Chimera Hearts server isn’t the heart of the movement – rather, it’s a hub for discussion & teamwork between disparate corners of the RPG world. A place to share tips and tricks – effective methods we’ve found to address the heads of the proverbial hydra, and a place to go when we’re looking for the solutions others have developed.
We also want Chimera Hearts to be a place where folks from across the industry can get together to build programs, initiatives, and infrastructure to cultivate the health & longevity of the industry.
There are already a couple of folks developing such programs; Aaron Voigt is putting together a mentorship program to give people the tools to start making their own RPG videos on Youtube! And I am currently in the middle of an experiment (which you can read about here), the goal of which is to figure out how to create a casual indie RPG audience in your city.
Chimera Hearts isn’t centralized; this isn’t a project built around a group of experts or authorities. The goal of the network is to connect people between otherwise disconnected subcommunities and give them the tools to start improving this industry in accessible, practical ways.
I’m blown away by how people responded to my call to action, and intimidated by the scope of motion that seems to have been set by it. It was by the dedication and expertise of Daniel, Aaron, and the rest of the folks working to put this together that Chimera Hearts exists, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it in any way. I hope you’ll join us and be a part of it, too.
Currently, the founding team of Chimera Hearts includes:
@monsterfactoryfanfic; @thecoppercompendium; @in-case-of-grace; @theresattrpgforthat; @rowansender; @thefiresontheheight; @ladytabletop; @stoicheincat; and Julian, the Game Mistress of @tinytablepodcast!
The system is broken, but there are much better ways to fix it.
The Trump administration’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications stems from legitimate concerns about wage suppression and job displacement.
Critics have long argued that some companies abuse the program by using it to replace U.S. workers with cheaper foreign labor. These concerns have merit. Studies have documented consulting and other firms paying foreign H-1B workers less than their U.S. peers in similar roles and even engaging in wage theft.
Yet the U.S. government’s sledgehammer approach to these real problems will likely produce consequences far worse than the abuses it seeks to address. Rather than encouraging companies to hire more Americans, the dramatic fee increase—from roughly $1,000 to $100,000—will drive high-skilled work overseas and accelerate the decline of U.S. technological leadership. In addition to the fee, Washington will replace the current H-1B lottery with a new system that strongly benefits the largest employers instead of favoring startups and universities, where foreign workers would contribute more to innovation and future job growth.
When we first wrote The Immigrant Exodus in 2012, we detailed how unfriendly and irrational immigration policies were preventing the best and brightest from staying in the United States. Since then, the rationale for building a U.S. career has steadily eroded. Not only has it become much harder to legally bring your expertise to the United States, but other countries have grown far more attractive for talented individuals. Many offer essentially a free ticket to foreign researchers, including a clear path to citizenship. China has offered massive subsidies to leading researchers. There has also been an acceleration in the formation of so-called unicorns—start-up companies valued at $1 billion or more—outside the United States, indicating that entrepreneurs can now build these businesses anywhere. According to the 2024 Hurun Global Unicorn Index, 52 percent of today’s unicorns are located outside the United States.
The $100,000 H-1B policy operates under a retrograde and flawed assumption: Make foreign workers prohibitively expensive, and companies will hire Americans instead. This logic might hold in a closed economy, but it fails in today’s globalized world, where talent and jobs move freely across borders.
Multiple economic studies demonstrate what happens when H-1B access becomes restricted. Research analyzing comprehensive visa microdata and multinational firm activity shows that companies respond to H-1B limitations not by hiring more Americans but by expanding operations overseas. When faced with artificial constraints on skilled immigration, firms increase foreign affiliate employment, particularly in Canada, China, and India. The positions most affected are precisely those that the United States can least afford to lose: research and development roles that drive technological innovation.
Reducing the number of tech jobs in the economy reduces other forms of employment. The evidence consistently shows that skilled foreign workers complement rather than substitute for U.S. talent in high-value roles. The relationship is positive and measurable. Skilled immigration expands entire industries rather than merely redistributing existing opportunities. This multiplier effect reveals the fundamental flaw in the new policy’s logic.
The H-1B program does have genuine shortcomings. Companies exploit the system’s lottery structure by flooding it with applications for positions that may not require specialized skills. For example, investigations have shown cases where workers were brought in to replace U.S. staff at firms such as Disney and Southern California Edison. Staffing giants such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Cognizant have used H-1B workers to undercut prevailing wages in information technology services. These IT services companies are also among the lowest-paying for technology positions in industry, offering salaries on average that are about half those of cutting-edge firms such as Nvidia.
The concentration of H-1B use among a small number of firms underscores this. In fiscal year 2025, Amazon alone secured more than 10,000 approvals, while Tata Consultancy obtained 5,505, Microsoft 5,189, Meta 5,123, Apple 4,202, Google 4,181, and Cognizant 2,493. A handful of companies thus account for a disproportionate share of visas, many of them for entry-level IT services roles. This raises legitimate questions about whether the program serves its intended purpose of addressing genuine skill shortages—or whether it has become a subsidy for cheap labor at the expense of U.S. workers.
These abuses have real consequences for U.S. workers, particularly those in mid-level technology roles where wage competition is most direct. The frustration of U.S. engineers and programmers who see their wages stagnate while companies import foreign workers is understandable and should not be dismissed. But upping the H-1B fee to $100,000 will not save their jobs. It will just move them somewhere else and further weaken the economy in which they work.
There are better ways to fix the system. They include clearing the green card backlog so that workers can escape servitude to their visa employer, raising H-1B wage requirements so visas cannot be used to undercut Americans, shutting out the outsourcing companies that game the lottery, and prioritizing genuine talent. Imagine if U.S. President Donald Trump told the million-plus skilled immigrants stuck in limbo that their paperwork would be processed immediately if they bought or built a home. Even if only half of them took up the offer, it would trigger more than $600 billion in economic activity—hundreds of thousands of homes sold, construction jobs created, and local tax revenues generated. The immediate economic boost could be larger than any other that Trump administration policy can deliver, including economic stimulus from tax breaks.
To improve U.S. competitiveness and ensure that the best talent can fill the best opportunities, the system should be changed. Startups and universities should receive higher weight in the H-1B allocations, because they are more likely to produce innovation. Larger firms and consulting companies should be limited to critical, high-wage positions. Furthermore, the administration should tighten the enforcement of prevailing wage requirements and implement mandatory audits of companies with high H-1B use. Companies found to be systematically underpaying workers could face high penalties or temporary bans from the program. This would limit abuse while maintaining access to exceptional talent for organizations that truly need it.
To promote visa allocation based on actual skills, the current pure lottery system could be replaced by evaluations based on educational credentials, work experience, and the specific skills shortage being addressed. This would ensure that visas go to workers who genuinely fill gaps in the labor market.
Finally, there should be strict caps on H-1B use by consulting firms. Limiting the number of visas that any single company can receive would prevent the concentration that has enabled some firms to game the system while ensuring broader access across industries. Needless to say, each company cap should include all subsidiaries and related parties to prevent further abuse.
These reforms represent surgical solutions to specific problems rather than the current scorched-earth approach. They would address legitimate concerns about wage suppression and job displacement while preserving America’s ability to attract the world’s best talent, on which the country’s competitive position increasingly depends. This is particularly true in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and biotechnology, where the talent pool is inherently global and competition for the best people is fierce.
The data on this competition is sobering. China has overtaken the United States in the Nature Index for contributions to high-quality natural science research, marking a historic shift in global scientific leadership. Chinese institutions now hold eight of the top 10 positions in the index, reflecting years of strategic investment in talent attraction and retention.
The international competition for skilled workers has intensified dramatically in recent years. Australia, Britain, Canada, many European Union countries, and Singapore all offer more predictable immigration processes and clearer pathways to permanent residency than the United States. Hardly a week goes by without the announcement of a new program to lure foreign talent, often explicitly aimed at the United States. China offers large subsidies and lab setup stipends to lure back Chinese STEM talent from abroad. These countries understand that attracting global talent is fundamental to economic growth in knowledge-intensive industries.
Foreign-born professionals comprise 43 percent of Ph.D.-level scientists and engineers in the United States. Immigrants have been instrumental in building the recent wave of U.S. technology companies, including Zoom, OpenAI, Anthropic, Cerebras, and Nvidia. Look at the ranks of founders and top executives of every U.S. unicorn, and the majority will include an immigrant. Ditto for the faculty of the leading schools of computer science, mathematics, biology, and medicine. The $100,000 fee will make it too expensive for all but the largest corporations to sponsor such talent on H-1Bs. Small, innovative firms building tomorrow’s innovations will be locked out of the global talent war.
Economic research consistently shows that H-1B workers generate more innovation and job creation than they potentially displace. Studies show that higher H-1B admissions correlate directly with increased patent filings, venture capital funding, and successful technology start-ups. Workers in the program file patents at higher rates than the general population and are more likely to start companies that employ U.S. workers.
The positive spillover effects extend beyond technology. Research shows that skilled immigration benefits both college-educated and non-college-educated U.S. workers through complementary effects and industry expansion. The fear that foreign workers systematically displace Americans finds little support in careful economic analysis, particularly for high-skilled positions where collaboration and specialization create mutual benefits.
Even studies that find some negative effects on wages and employment show that these are typically small and concentrated in specific circumstances. The broader economic impact remains strongly positive, with immigration-driven innovation and entrepreneurship creating far more opportunities than direct competition eliminates.
The pathway from research universities to H-1B employment represents a critical talent pipeline that the new fee structure will severely damage. International students typically arrive for graduate studies in STEM fields, often funded by research assistantships that contribute directly to cutting-edge research. After completing their degrees, many commonly go on to work in advanced roles on an H-1B.
At least 20,000 H-1B registrants now hold advanced degrees from U.S. universities. This clearly indicates how intertwined the university system has become with the high-skilled workforce pipeline in the United States. These graduates represent U.S. investment in training the world’s best minds. The $100,000 fee will degrade that investment by making it economically impossible for most employers to retain these workers after their training is complete.
The disruption extends beyond individual careers to the research enterprise itself. International students comprise more than half of all graduate enrollments in engineering and computer science programs at U.S. universities. They serve as research assistants, contribute to breakthrough discoveries, and often spin off their research into start-ups. They are the future of AI research, to name one example. When the pathway from graduation to employment becomes blocked, fewer top students will choose U.S. universities, weakening the entire research ecosystem that underpins technological leadership. With fewer brilliant students, U.S. university programs will wither.
The need to fix the H-1B program is real. However, rather than taking a scorched-earth approach, the United States would be better off pursuing targeted reforms that address genuine concerns while preserving America’s competitive advantages in attracting the best and brightest. The stakes have never been higher, and the competition has never been greater.
The proposed 2027 budget released by the Office of Management and Budget is filled with ideas that appear to be copied and pasted from Proje
Sophie Lawton at MMFA:
The proposed 2027 budget released by the Office of Management and Budget is filled with ideas that appear to be copied and pasted from Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership. Russ Vought, the head of the OMB, was an architect of the extreme right-wing media initiative and its signature publication before being hired by President Donald Trump.
The 2027 budget proposes defunding a variety of “woke" policies (with the word “woke” appearing more than 30 times in the document), including, for example, Department of Commerce programs “focused on woke and meaningless initiatives" like prioritizing support and funding for LGBTQ businesses.
Similarly, in Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ forward to the Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership, he calls for the next conservative administration to “make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors" by “deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (‘SOGI’), diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists."
Other proposals from the 2027 budget go even further than what was suggested by Project 2025. For instance, Project 2025 concedes that Congress is unlikely to defund the Minority Business Development Agency and therefore “a conservative Administration is best served by approaching MBDA as a tool to be leveraged in the fight to deliver economic opportunity to all Americans." The 2027 budget suggests defunding the agency entirely.
Project 2025 calls for a conservative administration to restructure the Teen Pregnancy Prevention initiative so it does not serve as an “advocacy tool” to “promote sex, promote prostitution, or provide a funnel effect for abortion facilities." Trump's 2027 budget proposes completely eliminating the program.
The 2027 budget document also contains some language more forceful than what was seen in Mandate for Leadership, repeatedly referring to the Green New Deal as the “Green New Scam,” for example, while Mandate uses the somewhat softer “green subsidies” to describe environmental and related policies it calls to dismantle.
After spending months disavowing Project 2025 on the campaign trail in 2024, Trump hired dozens of people connected to the effort at the start of his second term and has continued to enact policies lifted directly from the Mandate for Leadership. Some of the more notable Project 2025 suggestions that have been implemented include dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development and defunding programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. According to the open source Project 2025 Tracker, the Trump administration has implemented around 50% of Project 2025's policy proposals so far.
The Trump Regime’s newest budget has Project 2025’s handprints all over it.
