NEC signs on to inSPIRE STEM USA letter to HELP Committee
Letter urges support for I-Squared Bill to close STEM skills gap
As a a member of inSPIRE STEM USA, The New England Council signed on to a letter in support of the Immigration Innovation Act, or “I-Squared,” that was sent this week to the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee. The letter stresses the need to develop our domestic STEM workforce here in U.S. to meet the ever-increasing demand for skilled workers in these fields.
The Council recently joined inSPIRE STEM USA to advocate for the passage of I-Squared, which is co-sponsored by New England Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The bill addresses the shortage of highly-skilled STEM workers in the U.S. with both a short-term and a long-term solution. In the short term, the legislation increases the cap on H-1B visas and STEM green cards to enable more foreign-born STEM workers to remain in the US to fill jobs in the STEM fields. In the long term, I-squared re-allocates the fees collected from those H-1B visas and STEM green cards to fund STEM education programs administered by the states to develop a domestic pipeline of STEM workers.