Sen. Charles Grassley’s year-long push to reform the EB-5 visa program failed when lawmakers decided to pass a 10-month extension on the program with no changes.
Grassley wanted to reign in rampant fraud and limit luxury projects’ ability to get EB-5 cash that’s meant for struggling neighborhoods.
Real estate heavyweights didn’t want the EB-5 messed with, the Wall Street Journal reports—a ton of investment cash comes in through the program.
Silverstein Properties expects $500M in EB-5 cash from its 2 World Trade Center tower, while Related Properties raked in $600M for Hudson Yards through EB-5. The latter spent $740k lobbying for the program—and soon had an ally in Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Schumer’s office says “the extender allowed us to avoid any unintended consequences that might be unfair to urban areas while reforms are openly discussed.”
But after the failure, Grassley is thinking beyond reforms to scrapping the EB-5 altogether. [WSJ]
