"Strange bedfellows" is an overused term, but Bernie-Bannon co-usage of a term in the Constitution to fuel the debate is noteworthy.
There are two web searches readers can call up and review returned items. One search about BERNIE. One search about Bannon.
And JD? Now, a studious silence. On record as an Ohio Senate candidate, 2022, with a position stated here and here, (the latter Axios post noting that in building his fortune JD used H-1B labor), where the stated policy position then was contrary with what Musk/Trump now say.
Bernie's position is that H-1B has merit, but reform is needed to forestall abuse; see e.g. his Senate site essay on the issue. FOX reports:
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is taking aim at the controversial H-1B visa program, arguing that it replaces "good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad" — just as the program is at the center of a debate within the Republican Party
[...] Sanders cited statistics to show that in 2022 and 2023, the top 30 corporations using the program laid off over 85,000 American workers, while hiring over 34,000 H-1B workers, and that 33% of new IT jobs are filled by foreign national guest workers. He also pointed to layoffs at Tesla, one of Musk’s companies.
https://www.leefang.com/p/bernie-sanders-plans-to-force-vote reports Sanders will try to force a vote to put Senators on record on the issue.
A source close to his office told me that the senator is drafting several amendments to improve the program radically – including raising income levels for foreign workers taking jobs through the H-1B visa and hiking the application fees for corporations utilizing the program. The push is a reprisal of similar 2007 amendments Sanders offered during the debate over the Bush immigration bill. During that period, he worked closely with his Republican colleagues.
The new amendments will be attached to major legislation offered over the coming weeks — essentially forcing lawmakers to go on the record.
Sanders is currently in talks with potential cosponsors and expects to bring a unique pro-American labor coalition of Democrats and Republicans together to crack down on H-1B abuse.
[...] Grassroots supporters of Trump have noted that the H-1B visas have been exploited in the past to suppress American wages and view the efforts to “uncap” the program as a violation of President-elect Donald Trump’s America First principles and promises to end the program.In 2016, Trump cited the controversy over Disney forcing laid-off American workers to train their H-1B replacements. He promised to get rid of the program. “I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions,” Trump said in a statement.
Trump, however, has taken a complete reversal and now sides with his Silicon Valley allies."I didn't change my mind. I've always felt we have to have the most competent people in this country,” Trump told reporters at his New Year's Eve party earlier this week in response to a question on H-1B visas. “We need smart people coming into our country. We need a lot of people coming in,” he continued.
[...] The Economic Policy Institute and other credible researchers have found that major American corporations have long exploited the H-1B visa program. Though intended for skills-based temporary migration, evidence strongly shows that H-1B workers are tapped to bring down American wages. H-1B visa workers also have less ability to bargain for better working conditions, given that they are tied to their employers.
In 2007, during the debate over the Bush immigration bill, Sanders played a similar role, partnering with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., to reform the H-1B visa program. The Grassley-Sanders amendment, for instance, was designed to prohibit companies engaged in layoffs from hiring H-1B workers. The amendment was backed by the AFL-CIO, the Programmers Guild and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and opposed by many of the major corporate lobby groups, including organizations represented by Wal-Mart, Dell and Microsoft.
That 2007 amendment was voted down. Otherwise this would be less an issue now. But with the current daylight on the question Sanders might at least get a voice vote in the Senate where each Senator's vote would be of record. Hoping for better, the amendment now might pass.