The US$789 billion stimulus bill was subsequently approved by the House of Representatives Friday, and a vote in the Senate is expected Friday night.

The provision designed to was proposed last week by Sens. (I-Vt.) and (R-Iowa) as an amendment to the Senate's stimulus legislation. The proposal initially sought to by financial services firms receiving bailout money, but it was later modified to restrict such hiring.

The stimulus bill, once it is approved by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama, will require firms that take bailout funding to make a good-faith effort to hire U.S. citizens before people who are in the country on H-1B visas.

Opponents of the measure says it is so restrictive that affected financial services firms likely will stop hiring H-1B workers altogether. However, the provision doesn't prevent them from using offshore outsourcing contractors, which typically are heavy users of H-1B visas.

As a result of the conference agreement, Sanders said in a statement Friday that he expects the H-1B provisions to be adopted along with the rest of the stimulus bill. He added that what may have prompted the negotiators to keep the H-1B restrictions in the bill were all of the ongoing . "With thousands of financial services workers unemployed, it is absurd for banks to claim they can't find qualified American workers," Sanders said.