Commissioner Pai Statement on STEM Jobs Act
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NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
November30,
2012
Matthew
Berry,
202-418-2005
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matthew.berry@fcc.gov
STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI ON THE STEM JOBS ACT
I commend the U.S. House of Representatives for taking action to allow additionalforeign graduates with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) to remain in the United States. We should be proud that our nation’s institutions of
higher education attract exceptionally talented students from around the world. However, it does
not make sense to educate those students here in the United States only to require them to leave
the country following graduation.
We know that highly educated STEM professionals will innovate, create jobs, and
produce economic growth. The only question is whether that entrepreneurial spirit will find a
home in the United States or some other country. A sensible STEM immigration policy,
therefore, is critical to the competitiveness of our nation’s economy generally and our
information and communications technology (ICT) sector in particular. We should encourage
STEM graduates to settle the Silicon Prairie, not venture overseas. We should enable the next
Google, the next Intel, and the next Sun Microsystems to be founded here, not abroad. Today’s
vote by the House of Representatives is an important step toward making these aspirations
become realities.
I also applaud those in the U.S. Senate who are working on this issue. Senators Moran,
Warner, Rubio, and Coons, for example, have come together to co-sponsor the Startup Act 2.0. I
hope that legislators will continue to work across party lines in this fashion to enact STEM
immigration reform.
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