It's a presidential election year, and with limited time available in the 2008 session, and little appetite for rocking the boat, any reforms of the U.S. immigration system will not be on the congressional agenda.

That applies to increasing the number of H-1B visas that will be available to American firms seeking to hire qualified foreign IT workers. George Fishman, chief Republican counsel to the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee, said at a recent panel discussion that the House Democratic leadership has given the Congressional Hispanic Caucus "veto power" over any immigration-related bill that comes to the House floor. 

"The Hispanic Caucus sees it as a bargaining chip to get what they want, which is comprehensive immigration reform, amnesty for illegal immigrants, whatever you want to call it," Fishman said. "Until the Democratic leadership allows legislation [related to H-1Bs] to go to the floor on its own merits, that's the situation we have here."

To read more on the situation in Congress
- see this news.com article [1]