Washington, D.C. – TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, today published a new blog post in advance of today’s hearing on strengthening the U.S. workforce and economy through higher education and immigration by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety.

The blog post, “Solving America’s Workforce Crisis: Attracting and Retaining the World’s Best Talent,” examines how retaining foreign talent can help solve this country’s workforce crisis and explains how Congress can address this issue now in its final bipartisan innovation and competition package. The following statement can be attributed to TechNet President and CEO Linda Moore:

“Increasing the talent needed for the U.S. to compete globally while closing the skills gaps that exists in this country takes a two-pronged approach: increasing access to computer science education from an early age and attracting and retaining the world’s best talent.

“The status-quo isn’t working. We’re not developing enough home-grown STEM talent to fill current vacancies, and at the same time, we are forcing qualified international students who come to this country for a world-class education to go elsewhere after graduating, not because they want to, but because they have to, due to our outdated immigration policies. Immediate action is needed.

“Both the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and the COMPETES Act include the creation of Postsecondary STEM Pathway Grants and programs to increase access to computer science education. Provisions in the COMPETES Act create a U.S. startup visa and exemptions for Ph.D. and Master’s degree holders in STEM fields from green card caps. These solutions will help fill current vacancies as well as future ones, attract investment, spur innovation, and create new opportunities for American workers and students. They must be retained in a final bipartisan innovation and competition package.

“We applaud Subcommittee Chair Alex Padilla and Subcommittee Ranking Member John Cornyn for holding today’s hearing and look forward to working with both parties on policies that will help businesses fill current openings by attracting and retaining the world’s best and brightest talent.”

Last year, TechNet issued a report highlighting the skills gap that exists in this country. The report found, if left unaddressed, the talent shortage of workers with a post-secondary degree in the U.S. will result in more than nine million job vacancies and $1.2 trillion in lost production over the next decade.

You can read the full blog post here.