Guys,
I know DV2008 winners are in the same boat as we DV2007 winners were in 2006 when the whole Lottery cancellation/ammendment bill was up for voting.
I have never followed the US legal system so closely until the cancellation was imminent last year which would have affected DV2007 winners. As we all know now that bill died. When a congress session ends so does any bills being worked on and hence the previous Immigration died last year.
Now Congress is in 110th session from 2007 and will end at end of 2008 so chances of immigration reform bill being passed in this session is virtually 90% guaranteed.
For more valuable information on how the voting /law process works read this thread with info from
Deuce :
http://www.clalar.dk/dv-lottery/viewtopic.php?t=353&start=15
Please note the above link refers to bill last year which would have ended lottery or ammended it begining from DV2007 winner...of course that never happened but it has very good info on the process.
But now the Current bill (S1348) this year in senate failed for a cloture vote on 07th June 2007. What this means is that senators voted against ending anymore debate on the bill and to go straight for vote on bill in its current form. The cloture vote failure basically drags the bill now and will be back in future in Senate for more debate which can happen in days/weeks/months, however weeks is more realistic timeframe.
Even if the senate bill gets voted for Yes, it will then go to House of representatives for voting. Any differences will need to be reconciled by Conference committee before a final version agreed by both senate and House of Representatives will got to president for signing before the law kicks in
This year its different with bill originating from Senate rather then house of Rep first. When and if the bill gets passed in Senate and sent to House, there it will go thru some major changes/debate as House of Rep this session is majority Democrats and Democrats are Pro Immigration
The effective date is interesting. If passed with effective from 1st Oct 2007 then whatever changes proposed i.e Visa reduction or total elimination, it will apply to DV2008 winners regardless of you having received winner notification letter or even interview letter. I can however confidently say that the way things are going, DV2008 will be safe from any changes especially if S.1348 has been ammended to have effective date to be Oct 1st 2008 like some of you have posted ( i havent read the actual text of the lottery proposal on thomas site).