Senator Sheehy Takes Aim at H-1B Visa Program With Sweeping New Bill

Senator Tim Sheehy isn’t playing around. The Montana Republican is introducing legislation Thursday that would hit pause on the entire H-1B visa program for three years, then restart it with teeth sharp enough to actually protect American workers. We’re talking a 25,000 annual cap, a $200,000 wage floor, and restrictions designed to end the kind of abuse that’s become standard practice in corporate America.

The End H-1B Abuse Act goes further than most immigration reform proposals dare to tread. It would eliminate work authorization for certain foreign students and exchange visitors, prevent people on temporary status from adjusting to permanent residency while inside the country, and bar federal agencies from employing nonimmigrants either directly or through contracts. You can’t even switch between different nonimmigrant classifications under this bill.

Here’s the thing about H-1B visas that nobody in Silicon Valley wants to admit. The program was supposed to address genuine workforce shortages for specialized positions that Americans simply couldn’t fill. Instead, it became a convenient tool for replacing qualified American workers with cheaper foreign labor. Companies figured out the loopholes, hired immigration attorneys who know the system inside and out, and turned what should’ve been a narrow exception into a massive pipeline.

Sheehy gets it. “We shouldn’t be issuing work permits that make it easier to undercut American workers when we have the talent right here at home,” he said in remarks shared exclusively with Breitbart News. That’s not xenophobia. That’s common sense wrapped in economic reality.

The current system uses a random lottery to distribute visas. Sheehy’s bill would replace that with a wage-based priority system, meaning companies petitioning for the highest-paid positions get first crack. It’s elegant in its simplicity. If you truly need specialized talent that doesn’t exist domestically, you should be willing to pay for it. A $200,000 wage floor ensures we’re talking about genuine expertise, not just someone willing to work for less than their American counterpart.

The bill also cuts the maximum H-1B period from six years down to three. Employers would have to attest they couldn’t find qualified Americans, that hiring the visa holder won’t hurt wages or working conditions for U.S. workers, and that they haven’t laid anyone off in the past year and won’t for the next twelve months. These aren’t radical demands. They’re basic protections that should’ve existed from day one.

Think about what’s happened over the past two decades. Tech companies especially have become addicted to importing workers they can control more easily than domestic employees. Someone on an H-1B visa can’t just walk away from a bad situation without risking their entire immigration status. That power imbalance creates conditions ripe for exploitation, and it depresses wages across entire industries.

The three-year suspension gives the system time to reset. Companies can’t just keep doing what they’ve been doing while waiting for reform to blow over. They’ll need to invest in American workers, partner with universities and trade schools, and rebuild the pipeline of domestic talent they’ve ignored for years because importing workers seemed easier.

This legislation represents a fundamental choice about what kind of economy we want. Do we prioritize the profit margins of corporations that view American workers as expensive inconveniences? Or do we recognize that a nation’s first obligation is to its own citizens, especially when unemployment remains a real concern for millions of families?

The national security implications matter too. We’ve seen enough examples of foreign nationals in sensitive positions creating vulnerabilities. Restricting federal employment to citizens just makes sense when you’re dealing with classified information and critical infrastructure.

Sheehy’s bill won’t make him popular in certain corners of the business world. The Chamber of Commerce types will complain about labor shortages and competitive disadvantages. But those arguments ring hollow when you look at how many Americans with STEM degrees are working outside their fields or struggling to find positions that match their qualifications.

American workers deserve better than a system rigged against them from the start. This bill might actually deliver it.

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