FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                       

Contact: Eric Thomas, 202-822-9491

June 2, 2011

Compete America Applauds GOP Tech Group for Including Access to Best and Brightest Talent in Job Creation Policies

Urges Congress to Act on House Republican Technology Working Group’s Priority List and Enact Bipartisan Reforms that Ensure American Access to the Best Workers

Washington, D.C. – Compete America, a coalition dedicated to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce it needs to continue to lead in innovation and job creation, today applauded the House Republican Technology Working Group for committing to review current visa rules that inhibit access to highly educated, innovative foreign workers among its policy priorities for job creation.

Under the section, “Ensure American Access to the Best Workers,” the Working Group committed to “examine current education programs to make sure they are operating efficiently.  We will also examine current visa and immigration laws to make sure we attract and retain the best and brightest minds from around the world.”

Compete America has long made the case that growing domestic sources of talent through improved U.S. STEM education and reforming the green card and visas systems U.S. employers use to attract the world’s best talent to America are two key components of U.S. job creation, innovation and economic growth.

“We applaud the House Republican Technology Working Groupfor emphasizing the link between access to top talent and U.S. job creation,” said Scott Corley, Compete America Executive Director.  “We encourage the growing list of supporters on both sides of the aisle to turn their talk into action and enact reforms that will ensure the United States has the highly educated workforce it needs to continue to lead in innovation and job creation.”

To learn more about the benefits of highly educated foreign-born professionals to the U.S. economy, visit www.competeamerica.org.

¤ ¤ ¤

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of corporations, educators, research institutions and trade associations concerned about legal, employment-based immigration and committed to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce necessary to ensure continued innovation, job creation and leadership in a worldwide economy.