Senator Lindsey Graham, on Sean Hannity, reports that he is NOT using the Coronavirus Recovery Bills to boost EB-5, that the Politico report is false.
In response to whether he is making EB-5 a part of the recovery bill:
Absolutely not, I haven’t talked to anyone on the planet, much less the Trump administration about putting EB-5 on the Coronavirus bill, this is not the time, or the place…
In what was called an effort to boost the U.S. economy which has been strained under the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, unverified reports stated that President Trump was considering increasing the number of EB-5 visas to 75,000 and halving the investment amount to $450,000. Senator Lindsey Graham called the Politico report, which said sources stated that Sen. Graham was looking at putting EB-5 in a coronavirus recovery bill, false in the interview above with Fox News’ host Sean Hannity.
About EB-5
The EB-5 Program, created by Congress in 1990, provides eligible foreign nationals who invest capital in U.S. job creating businesses with green cards.
Each fiscal year, 10,000 visas are available to EB-5 investors and their immediate family members. The minimum investment amount for projects located in targeted employment areas (TEA), which are rural or high-unemployment areas as designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was recently increased from $500,000 to $900,000 in late 2019. EB-5 investors who choose non-TEA projects must invest $1.8 million to qualify.
The EB-5 Program became popular after the 2008 recession when traditional lending became difficult to obtain. According to IIUSA, $37.2 billion of direct EB-5 foreign investment has been invested into the U.S. economy since 2008. Furthermore, between FY 2010 and FY 2015, over 276,000 jobs were expected to be created by the EB-5 Program and $5 billion in tax revenues was generated.
The majority of EB-5 investors invest their capital in targeted employment areas. Their investment must create, or in some cases, save, 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers. Their investment must be at-risk, meaning they face a chance for loss as well as gain. The EB-5 Program’s economic and job creation benefits are all at no-cost to U.S. taxpayers.