Orrin Hatch: “First, let me begin by emphasizing how critical this bill is for our country's future. The second vote this afternoon is…”

“First, let me begin by emphasizing how critical this bill is for our country's future. The second vote this afternoon is on the Hatch substitute to the underlying bill, S. 2045. Like the bill, the substitute raises the annual cap on H-1B visas to 195,000 in each of the next three years. The increase in the number of highly skilled temporary workers will help American companies continue to create jobs in this country and maintain their competitiveness in the global economy. But this substitute, however, does a lot more. The use of skilled foreign labor is nothing more than a temporary stop gap solution to a long term problem we face in this Century. The problem is one of ensuring that our high tech industry has an adequate number of highly trained and educated workers to fill the demand. To hear some of my colleagues in recent days, one would think there is nothing in this bill on educating our young people and training our workforce. That is simple and completely inaccurate. The substitute contains important education and training provisions, worked out with my colleagues-- including Senators Lieberman, Feinstein, Kennedy, and Abraham.”