Bill Gates' Visit to Capitol Hill
Mar 13, 2008
During his testimony yesterday before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science and Technology, which celebrated its 50th anniversary, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told lawmakers that America is "at a crossroads" and that it risks losing its competitive edge if leaders from the public and private sectors don't do a better job of working together to support education, research and workforce initiatives.
In particular, he echoed his concerns about a shortage of qualifed workers and urged Congress to increase the cap on H-1B visas so that more U.S. firms can hire foreign-born workers (the government will start accepting applications for 2009 on April 1st). He also emphasized the need to improve the educational system along with immigration policy, to expand the pool of talented scientists and engineers.
You can watch video of his remarks in the Media Vault.
Tags:
Bill Gates, Competitiveness, Congress, education, H-1B, research, workforce
