NEWS CONTACTS: Eric Thomas or Frances Cox (202) 822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 6, 2006

Compete America Applauds Testimony Before House Education and Workforce Committee

Washington, D.C. - Compete America applauded Intel Corporation's call to raise the caps on H-1B visas and green cards for permanent residency. Jim Jarrett, Intel's Vice President for Worldwide Government Affairs made the request during testimony today before the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Addressing both the issues of education and immigration in the context of America's global competitiveness, Jarrett stated: "Unfortunately, our problems with competitiveness in education are aggravated by our immigration policies . our immigration policies do nothing to encourage the best talent to come and to stay. To begin with, we offer far too few H-1B visas to meet our needs. The current cap of 65,000 foreign engineers and scientists who may enter and work in the U.S. each year is hardly sufficient. In fact, it undermines our competitiveness."

"In the meantime, we have an enormous backlog of those seeking permanent resident alien status. That backlog constitutes a real deterrent to foreign graduates considering whether to remain here - particularly now that superb opportunities await them back home," he continued.

"No country that wants to be the greatest competitor in the world can afford to close its doors to the world's most promising talent. Yet that is precisely what we are doing," Jarrett concluded.

"Intel understands the challenges of global competition. U.S. companies must have access to the world's best talent to stay on top. It is up to Congress to fix an outdated visa system that prevents highly sought after professionals from coming to this country to live, work and contribute," said Sandra Boyd, Vice President of the National Association of Manufacturers and Chair of Compete America.

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of more than 200 corporations, universities, 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.

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