Today we will markup one of the most important pieces of legislation that the Senate will consider this year, the “American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act.”

In January, the national jobless rate hit four percent, the lowest rate in years. And the rate remained stable at 4.1 percent in February. That jobless rate is even lower in my home state of Utah at 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.

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 home 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.

The bottom line here is that U.S. high-tech companies are struggling to fill cubicles with capable and educated workers. A Joint Venture Silicon Valley study found that Silicon Valley companies are searching in vain for skilled workers and as a result are losing $3 to $4 billion every year. A Computer Technology Industry Association study concluded that this shortage of information technology professionals is costing the U.S. economy $105 billion per year. We can prevent that loss by passing this bill.

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 to 195,000 visas over each of the next three years. We also exempt persons from the cap who come to work in our universities and persons who have recently received advanced degrees in our educational institutions.

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 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. I note also that Senator Feinstein will offer an amendment this morning which also goes to this point.

This bill makes sense for worker education in a more direct way, however. If we fail to pass this bill, we bite the hand that will feed American high-tech education now and in the future. The companies benefitted by this legislation are our most faithful allies in the battle to ensure that American high-tech education continues to improve. If these companies are forced to move off-shore to fill their high-tech employment needs, they will be forced to take their investments in American high-tech education with them–and their investments are substantial. In fact, U.S. companies spend approximately $210 billion annually on the formal and informal training of their information technology workforce, and provide an estimated $2 billion in support to schools at the K-12, college and university levels in this country, according to the Technology Network. And donations to education programs represent over 40% of all charitable activity by high-tech companies. We must see these companies through the labor drought now if we expect them to continue to help us educate American workers for the future.

My hope is that all of my colleagues 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. For this reason, I believe that the Administration appreciates the need for this legislation. In the end, I hope we will have the smarts to listen to Alan Greenspan–who has testified about the need for this bill–and that we can have overwhelming support for its passage.

Before I turn to Senator Abraham, my lead cosponsor, and also to ranking members, let me outline how I intend to proceed on this bill. We have a number of amendments, I understand, and we plan to deal with them in an orderly fashion.

I plan to recognize Senator Feinstein first. Senator Feinstein along with Senator Kohl on this Committee and a number of members on our side are cosponsors on this bill. Senator Feinstein has worked with others on and off the Committee to make certain modifications in the current training and education components of the H-1B program.

Following Senator Feinstein, I will recognize Senator Biden to introduce his amendment on Boys and Girls Clubs. Next we’ll turn to Senator Kennedy, who I understand has a substitute amendment.

Then to Senator Torricelli, Senator Feingold, and Senator Leahy. We have heard that Senator Kyl may also have an amendment to introduce at that point.

Finally, I will move a technical amendment to the bill. I hope we can have the cooperation of all members to allow consideration of this bill.

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