This morning the White House suspended Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from PERM, the labor certification step that comes before an employment-based green card. The Labor Department says it won't accept new applications from these companies or process the pending ones.
I was excited for about an hour. JD Vance stood up and said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas. I've been on the Microsoft beat since January. Somebody over there watches the show.
Then the logic caught up with me.
This is not an H-1B ban. Nothing happens to existing H-1Bs. Nothing happens to anyone who already has a green card. These companies can keep filing H-1B petitions tomorrow. Nobody has said how long the pause lasts.
What it does prove is that they have the power. If the Labor Department can freeze green cards for eight companies with a press conference, this administration can shut down the H-1B program. Every morning it stays open is a choice somebody makes.
I've seen this play from the inside as an engineering leader. When you need a quick win, you announce a pile of initiatives, take one small step, and let the media cycle do the rest. It looks like a fight. It costs nobody much. Expect a lot more of it before November 3.
So here's my rule for the midterms, and I'd urge you to use it too: judge a politician by what they've done, not what they say. Skip the press releases. Go straight to the record.
That's what this guide does.
The Single-Issue Voter's Guide to the Midterms: Say vs. Do on H-1B scores every candidate in 30 House and Senate races twice, on the same scale. What they did comes from 1,035 immigration bills filed since 2023. What they say comes from their own speeches, press releases, interviews and posts.
A few things it turned up:
Some of the strongest H-1B votes belong to people who never talk about them. Sheri Biggs signed the bill to pause H-1B, the PAUSE Act, and the bill to end OPT. Asked for her top issue this fall, she talked about the border.
Some talk tougher than they vote. Beth Van Duyne says H-1B should be stopped or redone so it doesn't exist. Her bill raises H-1B fraud fines. She filed it 33 days before the election.
One record argues with itself. Andy Harris cosponsored the Mass Immigration Reduction Act, then thanked the president for extra guest-worker visas. His gap between talk and record is the widest in the guide.
19 people on the November ballot signed the bill to end OPT, the student work program that feeds H-1B. Most voters will never hear about it.
There's a page for every state, with every race, every bill and every statement linked. Find your district. Look at what your candidates actually did.
If the incumbent could fix it today and hasn't, that tells you something. If the challenger has never held office, you're taking a leap of faith either way, and the guide shows you what they've put on the record.
I made a video about the PERM news today: JD Vance Suspends Microsoft, Infosys and Tata From PERM. It's Not an H-1B Ban. If you know someone who votes on this issue, forward them this email.
Josh