{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-introduces-bill-to-end-tax-exemptions-for-foreign-workers", "Cotton Introduces Bill to End Tax Exemptions for Foreign Workers", "2025-09-30", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nSeptember 30, 2025\n\nCotton Introduces Bill to End Tax Exemptions for Foreign Workers\n\nWashington, DC \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced legislation requiring foreign workers participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program and their employers to pay FICA taxes. This bill ends the existing tax exemption employers receive for employing foreign workers and puts American workers first.\n\n\u201cOur tax code shouldn\u2019t incentivize businesses to hire foreign workers. By ending the FICA tax exemption, we will put American workers first,\u201d said Senator Cotton.\n\nText of the bill can be found here.\n\nThe OPT Fair Tax Act would:\n\nRemove the exemption employers receive for FICA taxes for foreign workers participating in the OPT program.\n\nRequire OPT participants and their employers to pay FICA taxes.\n\nRequire employers to match contributions at the same rate as if the employee was an American citizen.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-introduces-bill-to-end-tax-exemptions-for-foreign-workers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.037208829075098, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}