Bill Gates talks technology on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON (AP) - March 12, 2008 The shortage of scientists and engineers is so acute that "we
must do both: reform our education system and our immigration
policies. If we don't American companies simply will not have the
talent to innovate and compete," Gates said in testimony to the
House Science Committee.
Gates got a good reception from the committee, which was holding
the hearing to mark the 50th anniversary of the panel's founding
following the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite in
1957. "We are on the cusp of another Sputnik moment," said
committee chairman Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. "I fear that our
country has coasted on the investment made in the last 50 years."
Gates outlined four goals he said the country must pursue:
improving educational opportunities in science and technology,
revamping the visa system for highly skilled workers, increasing
federal funding for basic scientific research and providing
incentives for private-sector research and development.
The toughest sell was the position of Gates, and others in high
tech industries, that Congress raise the current cap of 65,000 H-1B
visas, nonimmigrant visas that allow employers to hire foreign
nationals with specific skills. The program also allows another
20,000 visas for foreign nationals receiving masters or doctoral
degrees from U.S. universities.
Current limits, he said have led to a "serious disruption" in
the flow of talented science, technology, engineering and math
graduates to U.S. companies. Gates said Microsoft and other firms
have been forced to locate staff in countries more open to skilled
foreign workers . Last year, Microsoft was unable to obtain H-1B
visas for one-third of the qualified foreign-born job candidates it
wanted to hire.
Lawmakers have introduced bills to expand the program. But
pro-immigration legislation is making little headway in this
election year, and the H-1B program has been criticized by some for
taking away American jobs, lowering wages or being abused by
foreign companies in the United States to bring in foreign workers.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who has pressed for changes to
the H-1B program, on Wednesday wrote Gates, saying "I'm concerned
that some companies are more concerned about their bottom line than
about the dire need to better educate and train American students
and workers. The solution is not, in my opinion, importing more
foreign workers." He said he was offering legislation requiring
companies to make a good-faith effort to hire Americans before
employing an H-1B visa holder.
"Our goal is not to replace the job of the B students with the
A student from India," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told
Gates.
Gates replied that the demand for skilled employees ensures that
wages will not be depressed and said that Microsoft adds an average
of four employees to support each H-1B hire.
He said 59 percent of doctoral degrees in the sciences and
engineering now go to temporary residents. "It makes no sense to
educate people in our universities ... and then insist that they
return home."
Congress, he said, should do away with per-country visa limits
and significantly increase the number of permanent residency green
cards available every year.
Gates, whose Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated
billions to educational programs, backed investment to raise
educational standards and attract more talented people into math
and science teaching.
He urged Congress to reinstitute the R&D tax credit that expired
last year.
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On the Net:
House Science Committee: http://science.house.gov/
