Immigration: Rep. Thelma Drake, R-2nd, has gathered 181 signatures on a petition to force the House to consider the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act. The SAVE bill proposes increased border security and enforcement of immigration laws at work sites.

If 218 members sign the petition, the bill can bypass committees and be heard on the House floor.

Skilled-worker visas: Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, introduced a bill aimed at tripling the number of visas given to highly skilled foreign workers.

The Strengthening United States Technology and Innovation Now Act would increase the number of H-1B visas issued in 2008 and 2009 from 65,000 to 195,000 per year.

The SUSTAIN bill seeks to keep foreign graduate students in the fields of science and engineering from returning to their home countries.

Immigration and crime: Republican Reps. Cantor, Drake and Robert J. Wittman, R-1st, are seeking a more streamlined process for local law enforcement to check the citizenship status of criminal suspects held in local jails.

In a letter sent Thursday to the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the Virginians raise concerns about local police computers being synched only with FBI crime databases, not citizenship databases maintained by federal immigration officials.

The letter suggests that local law enforcement be granted access to the immigration computers, that current crime and citizenship databases be linked, and that the department advise Congress how to "remedy this breakdown in communication" among law enforcement.

Sick leave: Reps. James P. Moran, D-8th, and Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, have teamed up on a bill to give retiring federal workers a new sick-leave benefit.

Under current law, federal sick leave operates under a "use it or lose it" policy, and many retirees take off large amounts of accrued sick time before they retire.

The Virginia lawmakers' bill would allow retiring employees to cash out sick leave, earning 15 percent of their hourly pay for each hour of leave accrued beyond 500 hours. The benefit would max out at $10,000. -- Neil H. Simon, Media General News Service