Few ideas are more central to who we are as Americans than the notion that people should be judged based on their own merits as an individual with God-given rights, not on the basis of the color of their skin or where they come from.

As our Founders wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” Those words are as much a part of our national creed in this moment as they were when they were written two hundred and forty three years ago, and our laws should reflect their enduring truth.

That is why I have been working to end nationality discrimination in our nation’s employment-based green-card system ever since I arrived in Congress. This Wednesday we took a big step towards ending that discrimination by passing HR 1044, a bill designed to fight discrimination in our nation’s immigration system while also increasing protections for American workers.

Specifically the legislation would:

• End country of origin discrimination by eliminating annual country-of-origin caps on green-card visas without increasing the total number of green cards issued each year.
• Forbid all employers with workforces consisting of more than 50% temporary visa workers from sponsoring any new temporary visa workers.
• Close the B-1 temporary business visitor visa loophole used by many employers to avoid H-1B visa caps.
• Levy new fees on all H1-B applications that would be dedicated to investigating fraud in the H-1B system.
• Prohibit the adjustment of status for any member of the Chinese Communist Party or People’s Liberation Army.

The House still has to pass this amended version of their original bill, and President Trump still has to sign it. But if this legislation does become law it will be the strongest anti-abuse and anti-discrimination reform passed since the H-1B program was created 30 years ago.