We tracked 15 Senate actions on the H-1B visa since 1998: 6 that would raise or expand it and 9 that would add wage, job-posting and anti-displacement rules. This page shows which of them Amy Klobuchar voted for or put her name on, links every one to Congress.gov, and puts it next to what employers are filing in Minnesota today. Voting for or sponsoring a bill is a public act; this page does not say why anyone did it.
Votes come from the Senate's recorded roll calls; sponsorships and cosponsorships from Congress.gov. Amy Klobuchar took office in 2007, so earlier votes read "not yet in Senate". The description is a plain summary of what the bill did, written from the Congress.gov summary or bill text.
| Date | Action | What it did | Direction | Klobuchar | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 1998 | S.1723 American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (passage) |
Raised the annual cap on H-1B visas through fiscal year 2002 and moved non-physician health care workers into a separate H-1C category. It also authorized student grants for low-income students in math, computer science and engineering. | Expands | Not yet in Senate | 78-20 passed |
| Oct 3, 2000 | S.2045 American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (passage) |
Increased the number of H-1B visas available for fiscal years 2001 through 2003 and exempted H-1B workers at universities and at nonprofit or government research institutions from the annual cap. | Expands | Not yet in Senate | 96-1 passed |
| Jan 29, 2013 | S.169 Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act of 2013 |
Would have set the annual H-1B cap between 115,000 and 300,000 depending on market conditions and demand, authorized work permits for H-1B spouses, and limited denials of extension petitions. | Expands | Original cosponsor | Sponsor Hatch (R-UT); 26 cosponsors |
| Jun 27, 2013 | S.744 Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (passage) |
A comprehensive immigration bill. Its H-1B provisions set the annual cap at 110,000, adjustable between 110,000 and 180,000, and limited the cap exemption to STEM occupations. It also added employer rules: more Labor Department investigations, higher fines, whistleblower protections, and a ban on hiring more H-1B or L-1 workers at employers with 50 or more employees when those workers exceed 75% of the workforce in FY2015, 65% in FY2016 and 50% after that. | Expands | Voted Yea | 68-32 passed |
| Jan 13, 2015 | S.153 Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act of 2015 |
Would have set the annual H-1B cap between 115,000 and 195,000 depending on market conditions and demand (the cap was 65,000), authorized work permits for H-1B spouses, and limited denials of repeat petitions. | Expands | Original cosponsor | Sponsor Hatch (R-UT); 13 cosponsors |
| Jan 25, 2018 | S.2344 Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act of 2018 |
Would have revised the formula for the H-1B cap, barred employers from hiring an H-1B worker to replace a U.S. worker, and set the first prevailing-wage level no lower than the bottom 50% of surveyed wages. | Expands | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Hatch (R-UT); 1 cosponsor |
| Mar 29, 2007 | S.1035 H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007 |
Would have applied the H-1B rules to all H-1B employers instead of only H-1B-dependent ones, lengthened displacement protection for U.S. workers, let the Labor Department start investigations and raised employer penalties. It also restricted L-1 intracompany transfers. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Durbin (D-IL); 2 cosponsors |
| Apr 23, 2009 | S.887 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2009 |
Would have revised H-1B wage determinations, required online job postings, lengthened displacement protection for U.S. workers, applied the rules to all H-1B employers, banned job ads that favor H-1B workers and limited the share of H-1B and L-1 workers an employer may have. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Durbin (D-IL); 2 cosponsors |
| Mar 18, 2013 | S.600 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2013 |
Would have revised H-1B wage determinations, required online job postings, lengthened displacement protection for U.S. workers, applied the rules to all H-1B employers, banned job ads that favor H-1B workers and limited the share of H-1B and L-1 workers an employer may have. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Grassley (R-IA); 2 cosponsors |
| Nov 10, 2015 | S.2266 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2015 |
Would have created an H-1B allocation system giving first priority to holders of advanced U.S. STEM degrees, required a degree to qualify for a specialty occupation, and revised employer application rules and L-1 requirements. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Grassley (R-IA); 5 cosponsors |
| Jan 20, 2017 | S.180 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2017 |
Would have created an H-1B allocation system giving first priority to holders of advanced U.S. STEM degrees, required a degree to qualify for a specialty occupation, and revised employer application rules and L-1 requirements. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Grassley (R-IA); 4 cosponsors |
| May 19, 2020 | S.3770 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2020 |
Would have required the Labor Department to review H-1B petitions for fraud, prioritized petitions for workers with advanced science, technology or engineering degrees, and required at least a bachelor's degree for a specialty occupation. It also changed L-1 rules. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Grassley (R-IA); 4 cosponsors |
| Mar 1, 2022 | S.3720 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2022 |
Would have required the Labor Department to review H-1B petitions for fraud, prioritized petitions for workers with advanced science, technology or engineering degrees, and required at least a bachelor's degree for a specialty occupation. It also changed L-1 rules. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Durbin (D-IL); 6 cosponsors |
| Mar 27, 2023 | S.979 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2023 |
Would have required the Labor Department to review H-1B petitions for fraud, prioritized petitions for workers with advanced science, technology or engineering degrees, and required at least a bachelor's degree for a specialty occupation. It also changed L-1 rules. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Durbin (D-IL); 5 cosponsors |
| Sep 29, 2025 | S.2928 H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2025 |
Would require H-1B wages at the highest of the local prevailing wage, the occupational median, or the skill level 2 median; require 30-day public job postings; bar displacing U.S. workers and placing H-1B workers with other employers without a Labor Department waiver; and cap H-1B plus L-1 workers at 50% of employees at employers with 50 or more U.S. employees. It would also order petitions by priority (U.S. STEM advanced degrees first), raise the displacement fine from $35,000 to $150,000, require annual audits of at least 1% of H-1B employers, and tighten L-1 rules. It does not raise the annual H-1B cap. | Adds rules | Not a sponsor | Sponsor Grassley (R-IA); 4 cosponsors |
"Expands" means the bill raised or would have raised the number of H-1B visas. S.744 (2013) also added employer rules and enforcement, listed above; the description shows both. "Adds rules" bills do not raise the cap; they add wage, posting, anti-displacement and enforcement rules. The last column shows who else was on each bill.
For comparison, these senators sponsored or cosponsored the 9 bills that add H-1B wage, posting and anti-displacement rules without raising the cap. Amy Klobuchar is not on any of them.
| Senator | Bills sponsored | Bills cosponsored |
|---|---|---|
| Grassley (R-IA) | 5 | 4 |
| Durbin (D-IL) | 4 | 4 |
| Sanders (I-VT) | 0 | 8 |
| Blumenthal (D-CT) | 0 | 6 |
| Brown (D-OH) | 0 | 6 |
| Tuberville (R-AL) | 0 | 3 |
| Hagerty (R-TN) | 0 | 1 |
| Nelson (D-FL) | 0 | 1 |
| Sessions (R-AL) | 0 | 1 |
Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications in federal fiscal year 2026 (through June 30, 2026) whose worksite is in Minnesota, from the U.S. Department of Labor's public disclosure file. Minnesota ranks #21 among states and territories with 4,115 certified filings from 1,245 employers, naming up to 4,751 positions. 18.6% of filings with a wage level are Level I (entry), against 19.4% nationwide.
| Largest filers (worksite in MN) | Filings | At Level I |
|---|---|---|
| Mayo Clinic | 229 | 50 |
| University of Minnesota | 224 | 114 |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions US | 133 | 0 |
| Best Buy | 122 | 12 |
| Target Enterprise | 116 | 0 |
| Medtronic | 83 | 0 |
| Wipro Limited | 73 | 0 |
| Tata Consultancy Services Limited | 66 | 0 |
| Optum Services | 63 | 2 |
| US Bank National Association | 62 | 1 |
| Most common occupations | Filings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | 1,028 | 25.0% |
| Computer Systems Engineers/Architects | 244 | 5.9% |
| Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers | 156 | 3.8% |
| Data Scientists | 143 | 3.5% |
| Information Technology Project Managers | 138 | 3.4% |
| Mechanical Engineers | 138 | 3.4% |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 105 | 2.6% |
| Electrical Engineers | 96 | 2.3% |
An application is a request to hire, not a hire; "positions" is a ceiling the employer asks for. A filing with a MN worksite does not mean the worker is new to the state or replaced anyone. This page does not claim that any vote caused any filing.
This investigation is produced independently — one person, 23 years of data work, living on $1,419/month Social Security. If this work matters to you, a small donation makes a real difference.
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