Press Conference Remarks of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Re: Introduction of S 2045 IS, the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act. Date: February 9, 2000. Source: Office of Sen. Hatch. See also, Summary of H1B Visa Bills in the 106th Congress.

I am very pleased to welcome everyone here this afternoon.  Today, joined by Senators Abraham, Phil Gramm, Bob Graham, Lieberman, Lott, Nickles, and many other of my esteemed colleagues we are introducing the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act.

Last month, the national jobless rate hit 4 percent, the lowest level in 30 years.  That jobless rate is even lower in my home state of Utah at 3.3 percent.  That's great news; but at the same time, serious labor shortages threaten our continued economic prosperity and global competitiveness.  A recent study, for example, concluded that a shortage of high-tech professionals is currently costing the U.S. economy $105 billion a year.

Now, I don't make it a habit of combing through the help wanted ads - the job I want is to represent the people of Utah as their Senator.  But I did check out those ads this past Sunday, to get an independent, first hand look at the job market out there.  And here's what I found.  High tech jobs even have their own separate section of help wanted ads.  Twenty-one pages of jobs, jobs, jobs.

The Clinton Administration recently projected that in the next five years, high tech and related employment will grow "more than twice as fast as employment in the economy as a whole."  The growth of the high tech industry is being felt across this country, and nowhere more than in my state of Utah.  Common sense tells us that we must allow American high tech companies to fill their labor needs in the U.S., or they will be forced to take these opportunities of growth abroad.

We want the high tech industry to thrive in the U.S. and to continue to serve as the engine for the growth of jobs and opportunities for American workers.  If Congress fails to act promptly to alleviate today's high-tech labor shortage, today's low jobless rate will be a mere precursor to tomorrow's lost opportunities.

The purpose of our important bi-partisan legislation is two-fold: 1) To allow for a necessary infusion of high-tech workers in the short term, and 2) To make prudent investments in our own workforce for the long term.

It is clear that in the short term we need to raise the limits of the number of temporary visas for highly skilled labor.  Our bill does this by increasing the cap on H-1B visas to 195,000 visas over each of the next three years.  We also exempt persons who come to work in our universities and persons who have recently received advanced degrees in our educational institutions from the cap.

But this, by itself, is not a satisfactory solution either in the short term or long term.  Thus, we need to redouble our efforts to provide training and educational opportunities for our current and future workforce.  Thus, we raise an additional $150 million for scholarships and training of American workers for these jobs for a total of $375 million for education and training under this program over 3 fiscal years.  Our legislation, in other words, seeks to address both the short and long term needs.

My hope is that the Administration will come to support this important high-tech legislation.  In our new knowledge-based economy, where ideas and innovations rather than land or natural resources are the principal wellsprings of economic growth, American competitiveness depends greatly on intellectual assets and capacity.  The most successful economics of the 21st Century will be those which maximize intellectual assets.  In recognition of this fact, the Administration has worked with me over the years to improve intellectual property protection and to encourage developing nations to invest in doing likewise.  For this reason, I believe that the Administration appreciates the need for this legislation.  In the end, I hope they will have the smarts to listen to Alan Greenspan–who has testified about the need for this bill–and that the Administration will support its passage.