SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) – Utah tech companies have thousands of open jobs and can’t find the talent to fill them.
Senator Mike Lee says a bipartisan bill he is sponsoring is part of the solution.
“This is a huge win, once we get this passed, for Silicon Slopes and for the movement to bring high skilled immigrant labor into the United States and especially into Utah where our economy benefits so much from the skills these people can bring into our country,” said Lee, (R) Utah.
Senator Lee is sponsoring the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act.
The bill would eliminate per-country caps on employment-based visas while maintaining the same overall cap.
Lee wants to do that because he says per-country caps discriminate against those from high population areas and leave some sitting on a waiting list for decades.
“This is wrong, it’s un-American, it’s without any rational basis in the law and that’s what we’re trying to undo,” he said.
Lee is teaming up with Senator Kamala Harris, (D) California, on the bill.
An unlikely duo putting differences aside for a bipartisan cause.
“It’s neither conservative nor liberal, neither Republican or Democratic. This is simply an American issue,” said Lee.
The bill has already passed the House on a super-majority vote.
Senator Lee believes it will be unanimous in the Senate and hopes to get it passed there in the next few weeks.
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