While Americans sit down for a sumptuous Thanksgiving meal, a grand policy buffet is being planned for 2013: comprehensive immigration reform. However, several policy chefs have cooked up some tantalizing appetizers to feed an innovation economy starving for skilled talent.
It is said that political campaigns are about fueling conflict, but governing is about finding common ground. Well, I am in the common ground business, which means I am determined to identify bipartisan ideas to revitalize the U.S. economy and create jobs.
At a time when bipartisanship can be a path to political ruin, legislation on, of all things, Internet governance has united Senators like Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) along with Representatives like Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Ed Markey (D-MA). In fact, Congress is poised to pass this legislation, which would call on the U.S. government to support “a global Internet free from government control” and to “preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet today.”
College graduations are in full swing across our great nation. As we have seen over the last decade, a significant number of U.S. degree-earners in science, technology, engineering, and math (the so-called “STEM” fields) are foreign born. Our policy leaders agree that keeping these talented students in the U.S. is essential to economic revitalization and job creation, but current policies and inaction on solutions are making other countries and even cruise ships better options as innovation hubs.
