NEWS CONTACTS: Eric Thomas or Frances Cox (202) 822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2006

Compete America Looks Ahead to 2007

Coalition to Pursue Immediate Action on H-1B Visa and EB Green Card Reform in New Congress

Washington, DC - Expressing strong disappointment in the failure of the 109th Congress to effectively address the H-1B visa and employment-based (EB) green card crisis now impacting American employers, Compete America today announced its plans to aggressively push for a remedy when the new Congress convenes in January.

"We were extremely disappointed that the House failed to join the Senate in approving reforms to the visa programs critical to U.S. employers of highly educated foreign professionals," said Lynn Shotwell Executive Director, American Council on International Personnel and Chair, Compete America. "Clearly election year politics trumped sound public policy. However, we believe the headway we made in 2006 will go a long way towards helping us achieve our goals in the coming year."

Shotwell noted that the Senate approved all the provisions of the SKIL Bill as part of its comprehensive immigration reform package, and thanked Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and John Cornyn (R-TX) for their leadership on the issue. She also commended Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) for his sponsorship and advocacy of the SKIL Bill in the House.

Beginning in January, Compete America will advocate immediate Congressional action to reform the counterproductive and outdated H-1B visa and EB green card programs. In particular, Compete America has proposed reforms that:

• Ensure that U.S. employers and universities have the ability to recruit and retain highly educated foreign-born talent;
• Reform outdated caps on H-1B visas that currently prevent U.S. employers from hiring H-1B workers until October 2007; and
• Fix the extensive EB green card processing backlogs.

For more information on how highly educated immigration benefits America, please visit www.competeamerica.org.

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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